All crew members killed in Sudan military plane crash

A Sudanese military aircraft crashed while attempting to land in the east of the country, killing all the crew, military officials said Wednesday, in the latest plane crash in the war-torn African nation.

The Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane experienced technical failure while attempting to land on Tuesday at the Osman Digna Air Base in the coastal city of Port Sudan, two officials said.

They said the crew were killed but didn't disclose how many personnel were on board. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorised to brief the media.

Among the dead was military pilot Omran Mirghani, according to his uncle, prominent Sudanese journalist Osman Mirghani, who mourned his nephew's death on social media.

Plane crashes common

The military didn’t comment on the crash.

Plane crashes are not uncommon in Sudan, which has a poor aviation safety record. In February, at least 46 people, including women and children, were killed when a military aircraft crashed in a densely populated area in Omdurman, the sister city of the capital, Khartoum.

The crash came amid the military’s war against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which began in April 2023 over a power struggle between the Sudan national army and the RSF. The conflict has killed over 40,000 people — a figure rights groups consider a significant undercount.

The fighting has wrecked urban areas and has been marked by atrocities, including mass rape and civilian killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in the western region of Darfur, according to the United Nations and international rights groups.

The war has also created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and pushed parts of the country into famine.