Scene of the crash that killed all onboard/Courtesy

The Director-General of South Supreme Airlines has pledged to compensate families of people killed by the plane crash in Jonglei state this week.

Businessman, Ayii Duang who owns the airline promised to offer cash as restitution for the death of the 10 people.

On Tuesday, aircraft number HK-4274 belonging to South Supreme Airlines crashed at Pieri Airstrip in Uror County –killing both pilots and all passengers on board.

The plane was en-route to Pibor from Juba when it crashed while taking off.

On Wednesday, President Salva Kiir suspended the airline operations to ascertain the airworthiness of the remaining South Supreme airline planes.

He stated that this is a necessary step to restore air confidence in air travel in the country.

During a press conference Thursday, the owner of the South Supreme Airlines, Ayii Duang Ayii defended the airline’s operations, while promising to pay compensation.

“South Supreme Airlines is a company that has international comprehensive insurance –that means the insurance company will compensate the victims including the plane,” Ayii said on Thursday.

“But our problem is those whom we lost in this accident because they are our people. We wish they had lived so that we can serve them. However, there is no problem with paying compensation, the insurance company will do it.”

“All the planes of South Supreme Airlines are registered internationally and have been rated at grade three in Africa,” he added.

The South Sudan Civil Aviation Authority has announced the screening of all aircraft, engineers and pilots in the country in an attempt to mitigate the recurrence of plane crashes.

So far, 11 planes have crashed in South Sudan since 2011 – killing 93 people and injuring 132 survivors.