On Sunday morning, a dramatic incident occurred at the airport in Malakal, South Sudan.
The cargo plane, flying from Juba, the country's capital, crashed during landing, veered off the runway and hit the wreckage of a plane that had crashed at the same airport a month earlier.
There were seven people on board the Boeing 727-2Q9, including one crew member. Despite the potentially catastrophic circumstances, everyone managed to exit the plane safely.
According to local media, the cause of the failure was technical problems with the plane. The aircraft, owned by Cush Airline, was operated by Safe Air Company.
Bol Mijok Lual, general director of the airport, told Radio Tamazuj, "At 11:00 a large transport plane crashed at our airport. The machine landed a few metres from the runway, which caused its tires to burst."
Governor James Odhok Oyay expressed concerns about the condition of the airport and its ability to deal with similar emergencies. He called for improvements to the runway, which may suggest that South Sudan's aviation infrastructure is inadequate.
Sunday's incident is another incident at Malakal airport. The plane hit another machine, which on February 9 - due to a landing gear failure - crashed on the airport tarmac and has not been removed yet.
Local media recalled the terrible series of accidents at airports in South Sudan that has been ongoing for several years. In April 2023, a plane carrying passengers crashed at Juba airport. All passengers escaped unscathed. In March 2021, a plane crashed at the airport in Pieri, but there is no information about any injuries.
The most tragic accident occurred in 2020, when a few minutes after taking off from the airport in Juba, a plane crashed on a farm - eight people died and one was injured.
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This article was originally published on Onet Travel.