Sudan Airways plane inferno kills 100 in Khartoum

SUDAN: Around 100 people burned to death when a Sudan Airways Airbus caught fire after landing at Khartoum airport Tuesday, officials and state television said.

Airport authorities said an engine caught fire, spreading to the fuselage, whilst TV reports stated that the weather conditions at the time of the landing were poor, with the capital hit by first a sandstorm and then heavy showers.

"Preliminary reports indicate that about half the 203 passengers on board are dead," a television presenter said.

At least 103 passengers and 10 of 11 crew survived, although an unknown number of passengers left the crash scene without registering with the authorities, said a civil aviation authority statement read out on television.

The plane had just touched down from Amman via Damascus when the fire broke out, the television said. Khartoum, Wednesday, AFP