A Russian cargo plane crashed near the Khartoum airport on Monday shortly after takeoff from the Sudanese capital, a spokesman for the country's civil aviation authority said. All four crew members were killed in the crash, according to the spokesman, Abdel Hafez Abdel Rahim. The crew were believed to be Russian, the Associated Press reported. Abdel Rahim said the plane was destined for the south Sudanese capital of Juba and crashed «just minutes after takeoff» about 8 a.m. (0500 GMT), «about one kilometer (half mile) or so from the airport.» Ambulance sirens were heard in Khartoum after the crash. UN-operated Miraya Radio reported black smoke rising just south of the airport and said the Ilyushin 76 plane belonged to private Sudanese company Ababiel. It was a second plane crash in Sudan in one week and the third in June. Sudan's Omdurman state radio said the plane hit an electricity pole before crashing into an empty field. The area was left without power shortly afterward as the plane went up in flames. Its cargo was not immediately known. But Abdel Rahim said the cause of the crash was not immediately clear and that the plane hit the electricity pole as it was already crashing.
