Plane crashes on takeoff in Sudan; five killed, many injured

KHARTOUM, Sudan, June 2, 2005 (AP) — A passenger plane on an internal flight crashed on takeoff in the Sudanese capital Thursday, killing three people and injuring more than a dozen, officials said.

A Russian-built Antonov passenger plane which crashed at Khartoum airport in Khartoum, Sudan on Thursday, June 2, 2005. (AP) .

State Minister of Aviation Abdel Karim Abdullah initially said five people had been killed when the plane’s engines failed on takeoff at around 11:30 a.m. local time (0830 GMT). Aviation Minister Ali Tamin Fartak later said three people were dead and 16 injured, two of them seriously.

Fartak said an inquiry had been launched to determine the cause of the crash.

The Russian-built Antonov operated by the commercial airline Marsland was headed from the capital, Khartoum, to El Fashir, capital of Northern Darfur, carrying 36 passengers and 6 crew, officials said. Two of the crew were Russian; the other four and all the passengers were Sudanese.

The U.N. refugee agency, which operates in the violence-torn Darfur region, said it had no reports that any of its staff were on the plane.

Sudan has a poor aviation safety record. In February a Russian-built cargo plane crashed outside Khartoum, killing the crew of seven. In July 2003, a Sudan Airways Boeing 737 en route from Port Sudan to Khartoum crashed soon after takeoff, killing all 115 people on board.