A small aircraft carrying oil workers in South Sudan's Unity State crashed on takeoff from its oilfield airport on Wednesday, killing 20 people, the region's information minister said, APA reports citing Reuters.
The plane had departed for the capital Juba when it went down, Gatwech Bipal said. The passengers were oil workers of the Greater Pioneer Operating Company (GPOC), a consortium that includes China National Petroleum Corporation and state-owned Nile Petroleum Corporation, he said.
Among the dead were two Chinese nationals and one Indian, he added.
President Salva Kiir said engineers and technical staff were among the dead, and pledged a thorough and swift investigation to determine the cause of the crash.
