Wreckage of the plane that just went down moment after taking off at Juba International Airport - August 22, 2020 - credit | Woja Emmanuel | Eye Radio

The World Food Program has denied hiring a cargo plane that crashed in Juba at the weekend, killing eight people.

On Saturday morning, a cargo plane belonging to South West Aviation crashed into a farm just hundreds of meters from the Referendum residential area.

Among the nine people on board, six were South Sudanese, two Tajiks and one Ukrainian.

Only one passenger, a South Sudanese, survived the accident.

The cargo plane was reportedly heading to Wau town in Western Bahr el-Ghazal state.

It was reported that the plane was carrying money meant for the World Food Programme staff in the fields.

However, in a statement issued on Tuesday, the United Nations food agency denied hiring the plane.

“The aircraft did not belong to WFP and was not chartered by WFP to move cargo,” WFP said in a statement.

“The Antonov aircraft was chartered by Galaxy Star International, one of several service providers in South Sudan holding contracts with WFP and other UN agencies.”

WFP further affirmed that its humanitarian work and programs in South Sudan continue to operate because none of its staff or UN personnel was on the flight on that fateful day.