Twenty-six people including a minister and other southern Sudanese politicians were killed when a Southern Sudan Air Connection plane crashed Friday in southern Sudan, al- Arabiya news channel reported, according to dpa. The Minister for Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) Affairs Major General Dominic Dim Deng was among the dead, the report said. Justin Yak, a presidential aide, was also killed. The dead included two crew members. The politicians had earlier attended a conference together. A spokesman for flight authorities in Rumbek, southern Sudan, told Radio Miraya that the plane had crashed on landing and burst into flames. There were no survivors. Shortly before the crash, the pilot had radioed to say they were encountering engine problems and requested permission to land in Rumbek. Radio contact with the tower broke off shortly afterwards. No details of the original route have been disclosed. In July 2005, the Sudanese vice-president and founder of the SPLA John Garang died in a helicopter crash. Southern Sudan has had an autonomous government since 2005 and after years of war against the central government in Khartoum.
