TRAGIC: Many feared dead after plane crashes in South Sudan

Many are feared to have lost their lives after a plane crashed in South Sudan earlier today.

A 19-seater plane crashed into a lake in the centre of South Sudan on Sunday, a regional official told AFP, adding “many on board are feared dead”.

“We have not yet established full details of the airline but what we know it is a 19-seater plane coming from Juba to Yirol this morning,” said regional information minister for the Eastern Great Lakes state Taban Abel Aguek.
“When it arrived the weather was so foggy and when it tried to land it crashed into Lake Yirol adjacent to Yirol town. Its so sad. Many people on board are feared dead. We are still establishing details,” he said.
“The plane crashed and killed 17 people and we have three survivors,”

The plane carried a total of 22 people.
One of the survivors, an Italian doctor working with an NGO, is in critical condition and undergoing surgery in Yirol Hospital, the minister said. An eyewitness had earlier said bodies were recovered from the water.
There were three children among the 22 passengers, a source said.
He said the Anglican Bishop of Yirol, Simon Adut, was confirmed among the dead.
The United Nations radio station Radio Miraya reported there were only three survivors, and posted a picture on its Twitter account of the twisted wreckage of the plane submerged in water.