By Our Emmanuel Thomas
November 04, 2015 – A nine months old baby was among the three people that survived when a passenger plane crashed earlier today in South Sudan.
Three people that survived the incident are two South Sudanese passengers and an infant boy less than a year ( about 9 months), Press Secretary to the President of South Sudan, Ateny Wek Ateny said in a statement.
The plane, a Soviet-era Antonov-12 transport plane crashed at 9 am shortly after takeoff from the airport in Juba, South Sudan, less than 100 yards from the White Nile River. It was a Paloich bound local flight.
Ateny said 18 people were aboard the flight: 12 South Sudanese passengers and six crew members — five Armenians and one Russian.
The cause of the crash might have been engine failure, Ateny said, adding that a witness saw one engine fail before the plane crashed. The plane is documented by Aviation Safety Network to have flown for the first time 1971.