Plane crash in South Sudan kills 20 oil workers

A small aircraft carrying oil workers in South Sudan's Unity State crashed on takeoff from its oilfield airport on Wednesday, killing 20 people, the region's information minister said.

The plane had departed for the capital Juba when it went down, Gatwech Bipal said. 

The passengers were oil workers of the Greater Pioneer Operating Company (GPOC), a consortium that includes China National Petroleum Corporation and state-owned Nile Petroleum Corporation, he said.

Among the dead were two Chinese nationals and one Indian, he added.

President Salva Kiir said engineers and technical staff were among the dead, and pledged a thorough and swift investigation to determine the cause of the crash.

Bipal gave no more details on the circumstances. Media reports had initially put the death toll at 18 but Bipal told Reuters two survivors had later died. One person survived.

Several air crashes have occurred in war-torn South Sudan in recent years. In September 2018, at least 19 people died when a small aircraft carrying passengers from Juba to the city of Yirol crashed.

In 2015, dozens of people were killed when a Russian-built cargo plane with passengers on board crashed after taking off from Juba airport.