According to local press sources, the aircraft, chartered by the Greater Pioneer Operating Company, took off from an oil field in Unity State, in the north of the country, in the direction of this capital, with 21 persons on board, including the crew.
The information adds that the plane crashed during the take-off maneuver and that the pilot and co-pilot are among the dead, while the injured passengers are in critical condition.
Some sources already put the number of dead at 19 and stated that the plane was carrying a group of oil field engineers to the capital.
At the beginning of this month, South Sudan announced the resumption of its oil production, almost a year after the pipeline rupture that allowed oil export to Sudan. This neighboring nation is experiencing a bloody armed conflict.
Oil represents about 90 percent of the exports of this landlocked country, so this interruption aggravated the pre-existing economic crisis, causing an increase in inflation and the collapse of the local currency, the Sudanese pound, against the dollar, as pointed out today by political observers.
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