The passengers included 16 South Sudanese, two Chinese nationals, and 1 Indian, all employees of GPOC
\n Juba
\nAt least 20 people have been killed in a plane crash in the northern region of South Sudan, officials have confirmed. The crash occurred near the oil fields in Unity state at approximately 10:30am local time (08:30 GMT) on Wednesday, shortly after the aircraft took off for the capital, Juba.
\nThe plane, which was carrying 21 people, crashed just 500 metres from the airport. Unity state\u2019s minister for information, Gatwech Bipal Both, told AFP that only one person survived the incident. The victims included 16 South Sudanese nationals, two Chinese nationals, and one Indian, all employees of the Greater Pioneer Operating Company (GPOC).
\nThe aircraft was reportedly on a routine mission to the area at the time of the crash. The United Nations\u2019 Radio Miraya confirmed that both the pilot and co-pilot were among those killed.
\nImages shared on social media depicted the plane upside down in a field with debris scattered across the surrounding area.
\nOverloading of planes has been a common issue in South Sudan, which is believed to have contributed to a previous deadly crash in Juba in 2015, when an Antonov plane went down, killing 36 people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The passengers included 16 South Sudanese, two Chinese nationals, and 1 Indian, all employees of GPOC Juba At least 20 people have been killed in a plane crash in the northern region of South Sudan, officials have confirmed. The crash occurred near the oil fields in Unity state at approximately 10:30am local time (08:30 GMT) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458440,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-458425","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n