Cathy Majtenyi
Nairobi
08 Jul 2003, 15:20 UTC
A Sudanese airliner has crashed near the northeastern city of Port Sudan, killing at least 115 people. Only one survivor was reported.
A Ministry of Information and Communications spokesman, Abdel Hamid Abdeen, says a two-year-old child was the lone survivor of the Sudan Airways crash close to Port Sudan's airport, near the Red Sea.
Mr. Abdeen says the child is being treated at a hospital in Port Sudan.
The Boeing 737 was en route to Sudan's capital, Khartoum. Mr. Abdeen says that shortly after takeoff, it became clear that the jetliner was in trouble. "The pilot had contacted the tower 10 minutes [after] departure from Port Sudan airport, and he told them that he is having technical problems," said Mr. Abdeen. "That is why he went back again to the port, and while trying to land, he had a crash."
Mr. Abdeen says officials of the country's Civil Aviation Department are on the scene conducting an investigation.
News reports indicated there were several foreigners among the victims.
The crash site near Port Sudan is about 660 kilometers northeast of the capital, Khartoum.
Sudan has had other air disasters in recent years. In 1996, 50 people were killed when their passenger plane crashed near Khartoum after attempting an emergency landing during a sandstorm.
Ten years before that, the rebel group Sudan People's Liberation Army shot down a Sudan Airways flight shortly after takeoff, killing 70 people.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
