JIA Director downplays recent plane crashes in Jonglei

The Director of Juba International Airport has downplayed recent incidents of plane crashes in Jonglei state, saying the causes were minor.

Kur Kuol says the first incident occurred in Bor town on Thursday when heavy winds blew off the propeller of the plane while landing at the Bor airstrip.

As a result, the front part of the plane got damaged – but luckily enough the only two crew members on the plane were unhurt.

Kur says the second incident was on Saturday after the propeller of a plane belonging to Air Service Uganda crash-landed at Akobo County Airstrip.

He says all 12 passengers onboard and two crew members did not sustain any injuries.

“It’s happened on Saturday but it did not crash and it’s propeller fell down, then the propeller was changed and the plane is now in Juba. Maybe the engineer didn’t tie the propeller well, so that is a minor thing,” Kuol told Eye Radio.

“There was nothing wrong with the plane that crash-landed in Bor. It was the front part that got destroyed but all the passengers were all fine, the 12 passengers and two crew were okay.

“It is just an isolated case because it was not a technical issue. It was just a minor incident because the plane was landing in crosswinds, so the winds drove the plane outside the runway to the bush.”

The latest incident occurred just a few weeks after a cargo plane ferrying the recent primary eight question papers crash-landed in Abyei.

No passenger was also hurt.