According to AP, it is believed that there were more people aboard the plane than those mentioned by the captain.
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“According to preliminary data, a citizen of the Russian Federation, a navigator, and five more crew members, preliminary, citizens of Armenia are among the 39 dead”, the source told RIA Novosti.
“We have an issue really about the drop in prices of oil on the worldwide market which delays the country in getting the USA dollars”, Ateny said.
Two people, including a one-year-old infant, survived the crash but one of them died later, leaving the baby as the lone survivor of the crash, the Red Cross said.
Video footages show local police officers pulling the bodies of men, women and children from the plane wreckage, with debris and cargo strewn along the river bank.
The cause of the crash remains unclear but the manufacturer said the cargo plane was not airworthy.
Machar Aciek Ader replaces Joseph Cleto Deng, who only took up the position in May, presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny said Thursday by phone from Juba.
“The An-12B was is no state to fly because it failed to undergo timely technical servicing… that should have included work on extending its resources and exploitation timeframe”, Antonov said in a statement. “This plane is just for cargo, not for passengers”.
Other reports have suggested that plane had several unregistered passengers on board and investigators are also looking at the overloading on the plane angle.
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Cargo planes serving remote parts of South Sudan often carry passengers as well as goods, and are commonly overloaded. Fighting persists despite a peace agreement signed in August.
