A plane carrying 36 people crashed on landing in the western Darfur region killing at least two people and wounding four, a Sudanese aviation official said on Thursday.
Abdel Hafiz Abdel Rahim, a spokesman for Sudan’s Civil Aviation Authority, said the Russian-built Antonov 26 crashed at the Zalingei airstrip, splitting in half from the impact.
“Thank God most of the passengers have survived,” he told reporters.
The plane from Tarco Airline was on a scheduled flight from Khartoum.
Abdel Rahim said the cause of the crash was under investigation, but added that the airstrip was rudimentary and badly paved.
“It is all sand and pebbles, and not well prepared to receive such planes,” he said.
Tarco Airline is one of several small airline companies operating in Sudan that often use pilots from the former Soviet Union.
Sudan has a poor aviation safety record.
In May 2008, a plane crash in a remote area of southern Sudan killed 24 people, including key members of the southern Sudanese government.
In July 2003, a Sudan Airways Boeing 737 en route from Port Sudan to Khartoum crashed soon after takeoff, killing all 115 people on board.
A large number of jet accidents occurred on landing.
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