On Sunday morning, a dramatic incident occurred at the airport in Malakal, South Sudan
The cargo plane, flying from Juba, the country’s capital, crashed during landing, veered off the runway and hit the wreckage of a plane that had crashed at the same airport a month earlier.
There were seven people on board the Boeing 727-2Q9, including one crew member. Despite the potentially catastrophic circumstances, everyone managed to exit the plane safely.
According to local media, the cause of the failure was technical problems with the plane. The aircraft, owned by Cush Airline, was operated by Safe Air Company.
Bol Mijok Lual, general director of the airport, told Radio Tamazuj, “At 11:00 a large transport plane crashed at our airport. The machine landed a few metres from the runway, which caused its tires to burst.”
Governor James Odhok Oyay expressed concerns about the condition of the airport and its ability to deal with similar emergencies. He called for improvements to the runway, which may suggest that South Sudan’s aviation infrastructure is inadequate.
Sunday’s incident is another incident at Malakal airport. The plane hit another machine, which on February 9 – due to a landing gear failure – crashed on the airport tarmac and has not been removed yet.
