Officials among 31 dead in Sudan plane blast—air authority

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KHARTOUM, Sudan—All 31 people aboard an airplane carrying an “official delegation” to Sudan’s war-torn South Kordofan state for a function marking the Muslim Eid holiday were killed on Sunday, an aviation official said.

“All people on board were killed,” Abdelhafiz Abdelrahim, spokesman for the Sudan Aviation Authority, told AFP.

He said the plane was landing in Talodi town at about 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) when “an explosion was heard and the plane was destroyed.”

Abdelrahim could not immediately provide further details.

The official SUNA news agency issued a brief alert which said only: “A plane with 26 passengers, including ministers, crashed near Talodi.”

Talodi has been a key battleground in the war that began in June last year between the government and ethnic rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N).

There was no immediate word on what caused the explosion aboard the plane.