Sudan’s civil aviation authority is being cited as declaring that at least 103 passengers and 10 crew survived the fiery destruction of a Sudan Airways Airbus A310 at Khartoum.
There were 203 passengers, plus 11 crew members, on board the aircraft which was completely engulfed by flames after landing.
But the civil aviation authority claims the process of assessing the number of casualties has been hampered by some of the evacuated passengers’ apparently leaving the scene to travel home before being counted. There is still no official confirmation of the number of fatalities.
In a statement published by the Sudan news agency SUNA the authority has confirmed that the flight was SD109 from Amman via Damascus, but says the aircraft originally diverted to Port Sudan owing to bad weather.
Meteorological data from Khartoum Airport shows that rain and thunderstorms were in the vicinity at the time. The aircraft eventually continued to Khartoum and landed at about 20:30 yesterday.
“After the aircraft landed on the runway, and after receiving instructions from the tower to turn to park in the allocated place, fire broke out in the aircraft,” says the civil aviation authority statement.
It adds that civil defence forces were able to assist with opening the emergency exits and evacuating the twin-jet. The origin of the fire is still unclear.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
Source: Flight International
