All seven occupants of a Boeing 727 freighter have survived after the aircraft crashed into the wreckage of an aircraft which had itself suffered a landing accident two months ago.
The aircraft, a -200F, bears the Kenyan registration 5Y-IRE and is listed in the fleet of Safe Air Company, based at Nairobi’s Wilson airport.
It had been transporting supplies from the South Sudanese capital Juba to Malakal in the north of the country on 31 March.
The Upper Nile state governor’s office says the aircraft “encountered problems” and was “forced to make an emergency landing”.
“[It] skidded off the runway and crashed into the debris of another [aircraft] that had crashed just a few months earlier,” it adds.
The previous accident had involved an African Express Airways Boeing MD-82 which apparently experienced a landing-gear collapse on 9 February.
Malakal has a single runway designated 04/22.
The 727 collided with the MD-82’s wreckage during the subsequent accident, coming to rest with its forward fuselage on the twinjet’s left wing.
“All seven people on board were able to evacuate [the 727] safely,” says the governor’s office, which refers to the aircraft having been “operated by Cush Airline”.
The 727’s aft fuselage fractured and at least part of the trijet’s undercarriage appears to have broken away.
It was originally delivered to Avianca in 1979, according to Cirium, and was hushkitted and converted while in service with Astar Air Cargo.
Upper Nile governor James Odhok Oyay has called for improvements to Malakal’s runway in order to increase safety, after voicing concern about the airport’s capabilities.
