A civilian plane crashed at the Port Sudan airport on Sunday, claiming the lives of at least nine people, including four military personnel. The development comes as intense clashes between the Sudanese armed forces and its rival paramilitary entered the 100th day on Sunday.
"A civilian Antonov plane today crashed in Port Sudan Airport as a result of a technical failure, leading to the death of 9 people including 4 military personnel. One child survived the crash," ANI quoted a statement by the Sudanese military.
Thousands of people have been fleeing the conflict since fighting began between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began on April 15. The Sudanese Health Ministry has informed that 3,000 people have been killed in the conflict and 2.5 million people have been displaced.
The 100th day of the conflict was marked by the exchange of rocket fire in the Darfur region that killed at least 16 people, as per media reports. There were also reports of snipers targeting people in West Darfur, with the death of at least one person.
On July 8, an airstrike at a residential area in Omdurmann killed at least 22 people in one of the deadliest attacks claimed by health authorities. Last month, 17 people were killed in an airstrike in Khartoum.
Earlier this month, the United Nations Human Rights Council made a shocking revelation when the bodies of 87 people were traced in West Darfur, all of them allegedly killed by RSF forces. According to the statement released by the UNHRC, a large number of people including women and children were killed in an ethnic clash and added they have been buried in a mass grave outside the region’s capital El-Geneina.
The UN claimed that local people were forced to dispose of the bodies in a mass grave, denying those killed a decent burial in one of the city’s cemeteries. At least 37 bodies were buried on 20 June in the approximately one-metre-deep mass grave in an open area called Al-Turab Al Ahmar (Red Soil), in the Ranga area.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk called on the RSF and other parties to the conflict to allow and facilitate prompt searches for the dead, their collection and evacuation without distinction, including based on ethnic background - as they are obliged to do under international law.
