Plane crash reported from Wau / South Sudan

FLIGHT FROM JUBA TO WAU CRASHED ON LANDING

(Posted 20th March 2017)

(Picture courtesy of @eyeradiojuba)

A passenger aircraft enroute from South Sudan’s capital of Juba crashed on landing at the northern town of Wau, according to information received a short while ago.
Tweets seen from @eyeradiojuba speak of at least 9 passenger having been pulled from the wreck though other information speaks of at least 30 passengers and crew on board the stricken aircraft while other figures given put the number of people on board to as many as 40. Those injured were taken to a local hospital in Wau and no details are at this stage available about their condition.
The aircraft, a Fokker 50, which was operated by South Supreme Airline, a company registered in South Sudan, as per the picture available burned out on the ground and hope is fading that there will be more survivors of this crash.South Sudan has a history of plane crashes as regulatory oversight is weak at best and almost absent at worst, compounded by years of internal strife which has seen civil aviation staff go unpaid for months at end.

The crashed aircraft has had a previous accident in Aweil three years ago. The registration number is C5-SSA, MSN 20138 and was delivered new to Philippines Airlines in 1988 before repeatedly changing owners until joining the South Supreme Airlines fleet in mid 2013.
Supreme Airlines has not at this stage responded to enquiries.
Additional information is expected to come in over the coming hours and updates will be available right here, so watch this space.

The latest information received now confirms that apparently all passengers managed to escape from the aircraft before it was consumed by fire. The number of those on board was given as 40 passengers and 5 crew members. 

There is no indication as yet on the cause of the accident and an investigation into the causes is going underway in the morning.