Antonov crash in northern Omdurman kills at least 19 people

An Antonov crashed in Karari in northern Omdurman on Tuesday evening. At least 19 army officers, soldiers, and civilians, among them eight children, died. Rumours say that the aeroplane was on its way back from North Kordofan, where it had bombed the area of Um Bader and killed several army officers.

The Antonov crashed into a house in neighbourhood 75 in Karari locality at about 20:40. Several Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) officers, including a brigadier general, and soldiers, and civilians died.

According to the Ministry of Health in Khartoum State, the El Nau Hospital in Omdurman received 19 bodies and five injured people.

Witnesses reported that five siblings were killed when the aeroplane crashed into their home. Their parents survived. In a neighbouring house, three siblings and their mother died.

The SAF spokesman issued a brief statement saying that “One of our aeroplanes crashed while taking off from the Wadi Sidna (Seyidna) military airport this evening. We have counted a number of martyrs and injured military and civilian personnel. The injured were treated while firefighting teams were able to control the fire at the site of the plane crash in Housing Block 75.”

Khartoum state government agencies explained that the Antonov fell down due to a technical malfunctioning that led to the loss of control.

Social media accounts loyal to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) claimed that the aeroplane was hit by anti-aircraft fire from the RSF command base in Ombadda.

They said the Antonov was on its way back to the Wadi Sidna base after bombing the Um Bader area in North Kordofan, where seven people, almost all SAF personnel, were killed, and several others were injured.

Maj Gen Bahar Ahmed, former commander of Khartoum Operations, a colonel, lieutenant colonel, major, captain, and a lieutenant were allegedly killed in Um Bader, in addition to Nasir Mukhtar, a member of a force fighting alongside the army.

Bahar was arrested in 2019 on charges of carrying out a coup d’état attempt led by former Chief of Staff Hashem Abdelmuttalib. He was tried and sentenced to five years in prison. In April 2023, after the SAF-RSF war broke out, he was reinstated and appointed commander of Naval Operations.

On Monday, Maj Gen Abulgasem Ali, pilot of an Ilyushin aircraft, died when the RSF shot down the aeroplane above Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, which has witnessed several airstrikes this month. Ali was among those arrested for the same coup attempt in 2019. He was dismissed from service before being reinstated later.