Red Cross staff collect five bodies of the four crew members and an agent on Tuesday afternoon, November 2, 2021 | Credit | South Sudan Red Cross

All the five people aboard the cargo plane which crashed near Juba International Airport in the morning are dead.

According to the South Sudan Red Cross, their five bodies burnt beyond recognition.

“We have collected five bodies burned beyond recognition. We will hand the bodies to the authorities,” it wrote on its Facebook page.

Authorities had earlier told Eye Radio that the Antonov AN26 had just taken off from the airport when it crashed on Kondokoro Island, two kilometers east of the airport.

They identified the deceased as four crew members – two Russian engineers and two Sudanese pilots – and an agent.

A manifest seen by this media outlet shows that the aircraft AN26-  flight TR-NGT–belonging to Euro Airlines – was carrying 28 drums of diesel to Maban County, Upper Nile State.

This is the second time since last year a plane crashed shortly after takeoff from the Juba International Airport.

In November 2015, a similar plane crash left 37 people dead.

The Russian Antonov AN-26, which were manufactured in 1969 – have been black listed by the Flights Safety foundation in 2006.

Other countries in Europe, Asia, America & most African Countries – including South Africa, Angola, Kenya & Somalia.

In May 2021, the South Sudan Civil Aviation Authority ordered all airline companies operating Antonov An-26 to cease operations until further notice due to multiple fatal crashes.

Two months earlier, said it would screen all airline operators in the country to stop the recurrence of plane crashes.

Given the today’s deadly crash, it is clear the authorities did not “adhere to international standards” when assessing the airworthiness of aircraft as directed by Kiir in August 2020.