13 killed in military plane crash in Sudan

KHARTOUM - A total of 13 passengers were killed Sunday and nine others injured when a Sudanese military plane crashed west of Omdurman city near the capital Khartoum, official SUNA news agency reported.

The Antonov 12, on a mission from Khartoum to El Fasher, carrying 16 people in addition to 6 crew members -- all of them military personnel, crashed in Omdurman city, east of Khartoum, Al- Sawarmy Khalid Saad, Sudanese military spokesman, was quoted as saying.

A total of 13 people on board died immediately and nine others were injured and transferred to a hospital, the spokesman said.

"The plane's crash was due to a technical fault," he said, adding that the pilot first reported a stoppage of one of the plane's engines and then the second one.

The plane crashed at an area some 40 km west of Omdurman city while the pilot was trying to make an emergency landing, according to the spokesman.

Earlier, a security source told Xinhua that the crash might have killed at least 17 people, but he could not confirm on that.

There have been repeated Sudanese plane crashes recently, the last of which in El Fasher, capital of Sudan's North Darfur State a few days ago, when an Antonov plane swerved from the runway with no loss of lives.

In August, a Sudanese civil plane, carrying a ministerial delegation, crashed in Sudan's South Kordofan State, killing all 31 passengers on board, including the Sudanese minister of guidance and endowments.