Russia says no national killed in the crash of cargo plane
June 28, 2008 (MOSCOW) — The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed on Saturday there were no Russian citizens on board of an An-12 cargo plane, which crashed on Friday in Sudan, killing seven people.
The cargo plane with eight people on board crashed an hour and ten minutes after it took off from an airport in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. Mohamed Hamza, a Sudanese, survived, while seven other were killed. Some media reports say there were Russian citizens among the casualties.
“According to information from the Russian Embassy in Khartoum…, there were some citizens of the former Soviet Union republics on board the crashed An-12 plane. The information about Russians being among them has not been confirmed yet,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry added that the possible cause of the crash could be a lightning, which hit the plane, adding that Russia will continue to monitor the development of the situation.
This is the second airplane crash near the capital of Sudan within this month.
On June 10 the Sudan Airways Airbus with 214 passengers and crew on board shot off the runway and burst into flames just moments after landing in a thunderstorm at Khartoum International Airport, living at least 29 dead.
(ST)