Sudan minister among 32 killed in plane crash

Monday 20 August 2012

Thirty-two people including a Sudanese government minister and other officials were killed when a plane taking them to an Islamic festival crashed in the south of the country yesterday.

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The plane went down in mountains around Talodi, a town in the border state of South Kordofan, while taking a delegation there to celebrate the Eid al Fitr festival marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Reports say bad weather prevented the aircraft from landing at its first attempt. During a second attempt, the plane hit a mountain. Culture and Information Minister Ahmed Bilal Osman said the plane "crashed into a hill" because of bad weather, killing the entire delegation. The Russian-made Antonov was landing in Talodi at about 8am local time when "an explosion was heard and the plane was destroyed".One Sudanese official said a search team that reached the site of the crash was having trouble identifying the victims.The country's Guidance and Endowments (religious affairs) Minister Ghazi al Sadeq was killed in the crash, along with Mahjoub Abdel Raheem Toutou, the state's Minister for Youth and Sports, and Eissa Daifallah, Minister for Tourism, Antiquities and Wildlife.Mr Sadeq took on the Guidance and Endowments portfolio, among whose duties is religious issues, during a July Cabinet reshuffle which trimmed the number of ministries. Prior to the reshuffle he had been Minister of Tourism and Antiquities since December.Several people associated with the country's military, state security and state media also died in the crash. Abdel Hafiz Abdel Rahim, a civil aviation spokesman, earlier said 31 people had been killed including the six crew, but had no details of identities.Reports did not say whether the plane belonged to state-owned Sudan Airways or another carrier. There have been several crashes in recent years involving Sudan Airways, whose fleet has been degraded by years of US sanctions and other problems.A Sudan Airways cargo plane crashed while taking off in the United Arab Emirates in 2009 and another cargo plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Khartoum in 2008.Oil-producing South Kordofan borders South Sudan, which seceded in July last year. An insurgency broke out in South Kordofan shortly before South Sudan's independence.The Sudanese government accused rebels of killing a state official and seven other people there in July, but there was no indication the insurgents were involved in the plane crash.A spokesman for the main rebel group in the area, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N), said they had nothing to do with the incident.The town of Talodi has been a key battleground in the war which began in June last year between the government and ethnic rebels of the SPLM-N.Sudan accuses South Sudan of supporting the SPLM-N, a charge which analysts believe despite denials from the capital, Juba, which in turn accuses Khartoum of backing rebels south of the border.

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Sudan minister among 32 killed in plane crash

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