Ismail Ibrahim Mohamed, a farmer whose house is closest to the crash site, said he heard a loud noise and came running to the scene after the crash.
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The Juba crash raised to at least 19 the total number of Armenian pilots who have been killed while flying old Soviet-made aircraft in Africa and the Middle East in four incidents reported since 2001.
He also said 10 people on the ground were killed. Moreover, there were five Armenians and one Russian on board.
“Cargo plane heading to Paloch in Upper Nile State crashed just 800 metres from Juba worldwide Airport runway”, reported Radio Miraya, a UN-backed station.
However, subsequent reports have said that there were more people on the plane than previously thought. “The cargo plane was carrying passengers and it is believed that many of them were not wearing seat belts”.
According to him, an unknown number of people were killed on the ground as the Antonov plane crashed near where a few fishermen were working.
The Asia Airways plane was torn apart, leaving debris dispersed near the crash site on an island along the White Nile River’s eastern bank.
An official said three people on board survived. “It was just chartered for goods”.
The flight likely had too many people on board said Kenyi Galla, a manager for a company that operates chartered flights in South Sudan. Ateny Wek Ateny points to engine failure as the cause of the crash.
Officials said the plane belonged to freight and logistics firm Allied Services Ltd. Officials at the company could not immediately be reached for comment.
Sudan was plunged into a civil war in December 2013, when President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of planning a coup, setting off a cycle of retaliatory killings that has split the poverty-stricken country along ethnic lines.
It will be the first conference organized by the SPLM-IO leadership since the signing of the peace agreement in August.
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The security deal struck an understanding on the sizes and compositions of joint military, police and national security forces to be deployed in the capital, Juba, and other state capitals, including Bor, Malakal and Bentiu.
