At least 14 people have been killed after a passenger plane crashed southwest of Juba, authorities in South Sudan have confirmed.
The aircraft, a Cessna 208 Caravan operated by CityLink Aviation Ltd, was flying from Yei to Juba when it went down on Monday morning.
According to the South Sudan Civil Aviation Authority (SSCAA), the plane departed at 9:15 a.m. local time and lost contact with air traffic controllers at around 9:43 a.m., about 30 minutes into the flight.
Initial reports indicate the aircraft crashed about 20 kilometers southwest of Juba.
Authorities say all those on board died in the crash, including the pilot and 13 passengers. The victims include nationals from South Sudan and Kenya.
Early findings point to poor weather conditions at the time of the crash, with low visibility reported in the area.
Recovery efforts have been slow due to the terrain. A Red Cross official, Joseph Lukac Charles, said teams faced difficulty reaching the crash site.
“From down the hill to where the plane crashed takes more than an hour. We started around lunchtime and are only just finishing,” he said, describing the effort to retrieve bodies.
He added that authorities are now arranging transportation of the bodies to Juba for identification and further procedures.
The crash adds to a long list of aviation incidents in South Sudan, where air safety has remained a concern since the country gained independence in 2011.
More than 50 аviation accidents have been reported over the past decade, often linked to aging aircraft, weak regulatory oversight, overloading, bad weather, and pilot error.
Among the deadliest incidents was a 2015 crash near Juba airport that killed 41 people, as well as another crash in January 2025 involving oil workers shortly after takeoff.
