2020 South West Aviation Antonov An-26 crash

On 22 August 2020, a South West Aviation An-26 turboprop aircraft crashed upon taking off from Juba Airport in Juba, South Sudan, for a domestic cargo charter flight to Aweil and to Wau, South Sudan.

Background

South West Aviation Co. Ltd. founded in 2017, is a passenger and cargo airline based in Juba, South Sudan. The airline was responsible for the fatal crash of an L-410 Turbolet in Juba in 2018. In the aftermath of that accident, President Salva Kiir banned aircraft greater than 20 years of age from operating passenger flights.

Accident

The Antonov An-26 freighter registration EX-126 (MSN 11508) performing a charter flight from Juba to Wau with six passengers and three crew lost height shortly after departure from Juba and impacted a farm about 2.5 nmi from the runway. Eyewitnesses report that the aircraft suddenly lost power and crashed in the Hai Referendum residential area. Weather is not believed to be a factor. Eight people in the aircraft (three South Sudanese and five Russians) were killed. There was one reported survivor who was taken to a hospital in critical condition. According to South Sudanese Transport Minister Madut Biar Yol there were five crew members, all Russian nationals.

According to early reports, the plane crashed into a residential area. It burned as residents approached it.

Some reports indicated the aircraft was on a charter flight for the World Food Programme (WFP) when it crashed, but the WFP denied having any connection to the flight, saying that the aircraft had been chartered by Galaxy Star International, a local company that provides services to the WFP and other UN agencies.