13 killed,9 injured in military crash in Sudan

Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- A total of 13 passengers were killed Sunday and nine others injured when a Sudanese military plane crashed west of Omdurman city near the capital Khartoum, official SUNA news agency reported.

 The Antonov 12, on a mission from Khartoum to El Fasher, carrying 16 people in addition to 6 crew members -- all of them military personnel, crashed in Omdurman city, east of Khartoum, Al- Sawarmy Khalid Saad, Sudanese military spokesman, was quoted as saying. A total of 13 people on board died immediately and nine others were injured and transferred to a hospital, the spokesman said. "The plane's crash was due to a technical fault," he said, adding that the pilot first reported a stoppage of one of the plane's engines and then the second one.

The plane crashed at an area some 40 km west of Omdurman city while the pilot was trying to make an emergency landing, according to the spokesman.Earlier, a security source told Xinhua that the crash might have killed at least 17 people, but he could not confirm on that.There have been repeated Sudanese plane accidents recently, the last being in El Fasher, capital of Sudan's North Darfur State a few days ago, when an Antonov plane swerved from the runway with no loss of lives. In August, a Sudanese civil plane, carrying a ministerial delegation, crashed in Sudan's South Kordofan State, killing all 31 passengers on board, including the Sudanese minister of guidance and endowments.  (Xinhua)
In Nigeria at least 20 passengers were feared dead in an auto crash on Saturday along Abeokuta-Siun- Sagamu Expressway in southwest Nigeria's Ogun State.

The auto crash occurred when a Volvo tipper truck collided with an 18-seater Hiace bus at Ototo village, few meters away from Abeokuta, the state capital. Eighteen of the passengers were said to have died on the spot while two others died on the way to the hospital. Sola Bamidele, a road agency official in the state said on Sunday that the truck driver's recklessness caused the crash.The Coordinating Officer, Ogun State Ambulances Services, Hassan Adelakun, also confirmed the death of some of the passengers, adding some others died on their way to the hospital. Adelakun said the remains of the victims had been deposited at the morgues of the State Hospital.  (Xinhua)