32 people killed in plane crash in Sudan

A helicopter carrying a government delegation crashed on Sunday in southern Sudan during heavy rains and its 32 occupants were killed, including a cabinet minister, a former presidential adviser, two generals and a TV crew, the office reported the president. The delegation traveled aboard a chartered helicopter toward the volatile South Kordofan state to attend prayers on the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. The helicopter crashed "due to difficult weather conditions" near Talodi, a small town about 650 kilometers (406 miles) southwest of the capital Khartoum, state news agency SUNA. The aircraft crashed into a mountain just before landing in Talodi, while heavy rains in the region left the pilots with "zero visibility," said an official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. A rescue team arrived at the scene had difficulty identifying the victims, because many of the bodies were charred and dismembered, he said. The office of President Omar al-Bashir issued a list of 26 passengers and six crew members who perished. Sadeq al-Ghadi, Minister of Endowment and a former adviser to al-Bashir, Makki Balayela, were on the list, and the two generals and other officials. Four members of a team of Sudanese state television also died. Sudan has a poor aviation safety record, with many accidents when jets landing. In late 2010, a plane carrying 36 passengers crashed at landfall in the Darfur region in western Sudan, which killed two people.