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Air crash kills Sudanese minister | |
(about 1 hour later) | |
South Sudan's defence minister has been killed along with 21 other people in a plane crash in the south, regional officials have told the BBC. | |
Dominic Dim was returning with a military delegation to the regional capital Juba from a conference of the ruling party in the town of Wau. | |
A presidential adviser was among the 19 passengers and three crew killed. | |
Reports suggest the plane had developed engine trouble and there were no reports of foul play. | |
South Sudanese Deputy Prime Minister Riek Mashar told AFP the plane had come down about 375km (220 miles) west of Juba. | South Sudanese Deputy Prime Minister Riek Mashar told AFP the plane had come down about 375km (220 miles) west of Juba. |
He gave no reason for the crash but ruled out an attack, the agency said. | |
A spokesman for South Sudan's governing Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), Deng Goc, said he believed bad weather had caused the crash. | |
'Engine trouble' | |
The United Nations has sent a helicopter to the crash area. | |
A UN-operated radio station which broadcasts locally says the pilot reported engine trouble just before the crash. | |
The pilot radioed a control tower in the city of Rumbek, requesting permission to land because one of the engines was having technical problems, it said, quoting an unidentified air operations official. | |
A few minutes later, the tower lost all contact with the plane, it added. | |
The presidential adviser killed in the crash was named by Reuters news agency as Justin Yak. | |
Three years ago, the president of South Sudan, John Garang, was killed in a helicopter crash. | Three years ago, the president of South Sudan, John Garang, was killed in a helicopter crash. |
The region has had an autonomous government since the 2005 peace deal which ended decades of war with Khartoum. | The region has had an autonomous government since the 2005 peace deal which ended decades of war with Khartoum. |