Plane crash blamed on mechanical failure

THE Sudanese plane that crashed, killing 24 people including key members of the government, did so due to "technical reasons" a senior official said yesterday.

Gabriel Changson Chan, the southern Sudanese minister of information, said while an investigative committee had yet to be formed, the government believed the plane crashed because of mechanical failure.

"Up to now we believe the cause of the crash is due to a technical failure with the engine of the plane," he said about Friday's crash, in which 21 passengers and three crew members died.

The crash claimed the lives of Justin Yak Arop, a presidential adviser on decentralisation, and Lieutenant General Dominic Dim Deng, the minister overseeing the south's armed forces.