Sudan Airways Flight 139

Sudan Airways Flight 139 was a Sudan Airways passenger flight that crashed on 8 July 2003 at Port Sudan. The Boeing 737 aircraft was due to operate a domestic scheduled Port Sudan–Khartoum passenger service. Some 15 minutes after takeoff it lost power in one of its engines, which prompted the crew to return to the airport of departure for an emergency landing. In doing so, the pilots missed the airport runway and the airplane descended until it hit the ground, disintegrating after the impact. 116 of the 117 people aboard died.[1]

Sudan Airways Flight 139
The aircraft involved in the accident is seen here on approach to Fiumicino Airport in 1989.
Accident
Date8 July 2003 (2003-07-08)
SummaryMechanical failure followed by pilot error
SitePort Sudan
19°37′12″N 37°13′00″E
Aircraft
Aircraft typeBoeing 737-200C
Aircraft nameWhite Nile
OperatorSudan Airways
IATA flight No.SD139
ICAO flight No.SUD139
Call signSUDANAIR 139
RegistrationST-AFK
Flight originPort Sudan New International Airport
DestinationKhartoum International Airport
Occupants117
Passengers106
Crew11
Fatalities116
Injuries1
Survivors1

Aircraft

The aircraft involved in the accident was a Boeing 737-2J8C, c/n 21169, registered ST-AFK.[2] Powered with two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-7 engines, it had its maiden flight on 29 August 1975, and was delivered new to Sudan Airways on 15 September 1975.[2][3] At the time of the accident the aircraft was almost 28 years old.

Accident

The airplane had reportedly departed Port Sudan at 4:00 am (UTC+3), bound for Khartoum.[4] The pilot radioed about ten minutes after take-off, informing about a problem with one of the engines and that he would fly the aircraft back to the airport of departure to make an emergency landing. However, the plane plummeted into the ground before returning to the airfield and immediately caught fire.[5][6]

All but one of the 117 occupants of the aircraft —most of them Sudanese— perished in the accident.[7][8][9] There were three Indians, a Briton, a Chinese, an Emirati, and an Ethiopian among the dead passengers as well.[4] The crash had a two-year old boy as a sole survivor.[4][10][11][12][13][14]

Then Sudan foreign minister Mustafa Osman Ismail raised the trade embargo imposed by the U.S. government in 1997 as a contribution to the accident, as he described the company was unable to get spare parts for the maintenance of the airline's fleet because of that sanctions.[3][15][16] The aircraft involved in the accident, in particular, hadn't been serviced for years.[17]

See also

References
  1. Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on 19 December 2011.
  2. "Accident information : Boeing 737 Sudan Airways ST-AFK". Airfleets.net. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  3. Saeed, Mohamed Ali (8 July 2003). "115 killed in Sudanese plane crash". Middle East Online. Archived from the original on 1 July 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  4. "Sudan plane crash kills 115". BBC News. 8 July 2003. Archived from the original on 1 July 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  5. "Boy, 3, is only survivor of Sudan crash". USA Today. 8 July 2003. Archived from the original on 1 July 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  6. "116 Are Killed in Plane Crash in Sudan; a Small Boy Survives". The New York Times. 9 July 2003. Archived from the original on 1 July 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  7. "Sudan air crash leaves 116 dead". The Telegraph. 8 July 2003. Archived from the original on 1 July 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  8. "Two-year-old only survivor of air crash". The Guardian. 8 July 2008. Archived from the original on 1 July 2012. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  9. "Child only survivor of Sudan crash". CNN. 8 July 2003. Archived from the original on 15 July 2003. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  10. "'Miracle' crash child is 'critical but stable'". BBC News. 14 July 2003. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  11. "Infant who survived 2003 Sudan plane crash is performing Haj". Saudi Gazette. 5 August 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  12. "Fate or fluke? Air crash sole survivors". CNN. 13 May 2010. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  13. "Sole survivors of plane crashes". The Guardian. 12 May 2010. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  14. Osman, Mohamed (9 July 2003). "US sanctions blamed for Sudanese air disaster". Independent Online. Archived from the original on 4 May 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
  15. Quirst-Arcton, Ofeibea (9 July 2003). "Sudan: Foreign Minister Pleads for End to US Sanctions Following Air Crash". AllAfrica.com. Archived from the original on 4 May 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
  16. "Lone survivor of Sudan air crash dies". The Sydney Morning Herald. AFP, DPA. 9 July 2003. Archived from the original on 1 July 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
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