At least 46 people have been confirmed dead after a Sudanese Armed Forces aircraft crashed in Omdurman, outskirts of the country’s capital city.
The crash occurred in the late hours of yesterday, after taking off from the Wadi Sayidna military air base, leaving at least 10 others with varying degrees of injuries.
As gathered, an aircraft carrying armed forces personnel, including Major-General Bahr Ahmed, a senior commander in Khartoum, crashed into a residential area in the Karrari district, leaving several houses damaged.
Confirming this through a statement on Wednesday, the Sudanese Armed Forces said several civilian were killed in the crash but did not provide the number of soldiers, who died or the cause of the tragic incident.
“One of our aircraft crashed during takeoff from Wadi Seidna Airport this evening, resulting in several martyrs and injured personnel, both military and civilian,” it said.
Meanwhile, the health ministry disclosed that the remains and injured individual including two siblings were transferred to Al-Naw Teaching Hospital following the crash.
Sudan has experienced a number of aircraft crashes, highlighting concerns about its aviation safety record. In 2020, at least 16 people were killed when a military plane, a Russian Antonov An-12, crashed in the western region of Darfur.
Also in 2003, a civilian Sudan Airways plane crashed into a hillside while trying to make an emergency landing, killing 116 people, including eight foreigners.
