Juba, South Sudan
November 6,2021—The South Sudan government has formed a technical committee to investigate the latest deadly plane crash in the country which involved an aircraft operated by Optimum Aviation early this month.
The ill-fated Antonov An-26 aircraft crashed on Tuesday, November 2, 2021 in Gondokoro near Juba International Airport shortly after takeoff killing at least five crew members.
According to the information received by Nyamilepedia, the director-general of the Juba International Airport, Kur Kuol confirmed to media on Friday that an investigation committee has been formed to establish the cause of the plane crash.
“The minister of transport is preparing a committee of investigation. The day before yesterday (Wednesday), we were in a meeting with the directors of accident and investigation,” Kuol told reporters on Friday.
According to Kuol, the minister asked them to produce a list of investigators from their department to initiate the investigation exercise.
The crash victims were one South Sudanese, two Russians nationals and two Sudanese.
The plane was reportedly carrying 25 heavy drums of fuel from Juba to Maban County in Upper Nile State.
Two days after the plane crash, the authorities of South Sudan Civil Aviation suspended the operation of airplane company running the Antonov An-26.
In 2015, 36 people were killed when a Soviet-era Antonov plane crashed just after takeoff from the capital, Juba.
