SUDAN: A small boy was the sole survivor after a Sudan Airways aircraft crashed on a domestic flight in Africa's largest country yesterday, killing 115 people.
A spokesman for the national flag carrier said Mohammed al- Fatih, an infant who lost a leg, survived and not Lena Abdallah, a two-year-old girl named earlier by the airline.
"There was confusion over the identification because Lena Abdallah was on the flight and died," Sudan Airways external relations manager Jalal al-Ajab said.
Confusion still reigned over the boy's age. Ajab said he was nine months old and would be brought to Khartoum for treatment. The regional governor said the boy was three years old, while a passenger list described him as a "suckling infant".
The pilot of the Boeing 737 reported a technical failure a few minutes after taking off at about 4 a.m. local time from the Red Sea town of Port Sudan in the northeast, heading towards Khartoum, state radio said. The aircraft crashed a few kilometers away from Port Sudan airport as it returned in an attempt to land.
Sudanese TV said the dead were laid to rest in a mass grave in Port Sudan, about 700 km north-east of Khartoum, after local government officials ordered a swift burial. - (Reuters)