The death toll from crashing Sudanese military aircraft in Omdurman city has risen to at least 46, including women and children, officials said on Wednesday, one of the deadliest crashing planes in Northeast African countries in the past 20 years.
According to the government-run Khartoum Media Office, Antonov aircraft crashed in a populated area in Omdurman on Tuesday, causing injury to at least 10 people. The first death toll for the age of 19 was provided by the Ministry of Health.
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The military said in a statement that the plane crashed while taking off from Wadi Saidina Air Force Base north of Omdurman, a sister city of the capital Khartoum.
According to the media office, the clash damaged many homes in Omdurman's Kalali district.
The military said previously that military personnel and civilians were killed when crashed but did not provide numbers. He didn't say the cause of the crash.
This is a locator map of Sudan with its capital Khartoum. (AP photo)
The Ministry of Health said several bodies had been moved to NAU Hospital in Omdurman.
Among the deaths were senior military officers, including Major General Bahmed Bahl and Lieutenant Colonel awad ayoub and an aircraft crew, military officials said.
An official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the issue said the deaths included a woman and a child, including five siblings.
Local media reported that when the aircraft crashed in Al Taura district of Kalari, it was on its way to Sudan in the Red Sea, a military-backed government position. Residents reported a large explosion from the crash fall, sending thick clouds of smoke and dust over the Omdurman.
Aircraft crashes are common in Sudan where aviation safety records are poor. At least 16 people died in 2020 when Russia's Antonov AN-12 crashed in the western region of Darfur.
In 2003, a civilian Sudanese Airlines plane crashed onto a hillside while attempting to make an emergency landing, killing 116 people, including eight foreigners. Only the boy survived the crash.
Over 1,400 people have died from cholera in recent months.
Sudan is also fighting a cholera outbreak that has killed 1,472 people in 12 states in recent months, the health ministry said. Since the disease was detected last July, around 56,000 people have become ill.
The deaths included more than 70 people who died in two White Nile cities earlier this month, the department said. Over 2,000 other people said they had been diagnosed with the disease in the cities of Kosti and Labak.
Last year, an outbreak was detected during the rainy season from July to October. Heavy rains and floods have especially struck the eastern parts of the country where wars of millions of people have been displaced.
The outbreak adds additional strain to the country and has suffered nearly two years of devastating war.
Sudan has been in a state of civil war since 2023, when tensions between the military and the notorious paramilitary group, the rapid supporters, exploded into a blazing open war.
According to the United Nations and international rights groups, the fighting amounts to atrocities, including massive rape and ethnic motivated murders, as well as war crimes and crimes against humanity, particularly in the western region of Darfur.
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The war has intensified in recent months, with the military steadily making progress against the RSF in Khartoum and elsewhere in the country.
The RSF, which manages most of Darfur, said it defeated military aircraft on Monday in Nyara, the capital of the southern Darfur province.
