At least 19 people died when a Sudanese military transport plane crashed into a residential area near Khartoum, Sudan’s army-aligned health ministry reported on Wednesday.
The Antonov aircraft crashed on Tuesday night during takeoff near Wadi Seidna air base, one of the army’s key military hubs in Omdurman, northwest of the capital. The army, currently engaged in a conflict with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023, confirmed that both military personnel and civilians were among the casualties.
Eyewitnesses reported hearing a loud explosion, with several homes damaged and power outages affecting nearby neighborhoods. The health ministry stated that search operations are ongoing to recover additional victims trapped under the rubble.
Read Also: At Least 20 Dead in South Sudan Plane Crash
Emergency teams rushed injured civilians, including children, to a local hospital. A military source, requesting anonymity, attributed the crash to a technical malfunction.
This incident follows the RSF’s claim of shooting down a Russian-made Ilyushin aircraft over Nyala, South Darfur’s capital, further escalating the conflict between Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamadan Daglo.
The two former allies are now rivals in a war that the United Nations describes as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths, widespread displacement, and the destruction of critical infrastructure.
Despite recent army advances, the conflict shows little sign of resolution, with Sudan’s major cities, including Khartoum, remaining severely affected.
