By Enyichukwu Enemanna
At least 20 persons are feared dead after a helicopter carrying oil workers in South Sudan crashed following its takeoff from an oilfield airport on Wednesday, Unity State’s information minister, Gatwech Bipal, said.
The small plane had departed from the Unity oilfield en route to the capital, Juba, when it went down, killing all except one occupant, Bipal confirmed.
The passengers were oil workers from the Greater Pioneer Operating Company (GPOC), a consortium that includes China National Petroleum Corporation and state-owned Nile Petroleum Corporation, he said.
Among the victims were two Chinese nationals and one Indian, he added.
Engineers and technical staff were among the deceased, President Salva Kiir said, pledging a thorough and swift investigation to determine the cause of the crash.
Initial media reports had put the death toll at 18, but the minister, who did not disclose further details, told Reuters that the survivors later died, leaving just one person alive.
Several air crashes have occurred in war-torn South Sudan in recent years.
In September 2018, at least 19 people died when a small aircraft carrying passengers from Juba to the city of Yirol crashed.
In 2015, dozens of people were killed when a Russian-built cargo plane with passengers on board crashed after taking off from Juba airport.
