Three dead in UN helicopter crash in S’Sudan

Three people were killed and another injured when a helicopter belonging to the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) crashed on Tuesday.

The mission told the press that three of the crew died and another was wounded when the helicopter crashed in the Unity State area of South Sudan.

Earlier, the mission substantiated that one of its helicopters had crashed near Bentiu, the capital of the Unity state where regime troops have been fighting with rebels led by former Vice President Riek Machar.

“The United Nations Mission in South Sudan attests that one of its MI-8 helicopters has crashed about 10 km south of Bentiu in Unity State,” the mission verbally expressed.

UNMISS reported losing contact with the helicopter, which was on a routine cargo flight from Wau to Bentiu at 14:28 hours on Tuesday.

The mission dispatched a search and rescue team to the site of the incident and integrated that “Investigations regarding the cause of the incident will commence as anon as possible.”

A local official told Xinhua that the helicopter was targeted by the revolters, but this has not been attested by the South Sudanese regime nor the UN mission.

“The UN helicopter was shot down with a rocket-propelled grenade,” verbalized the official, who relucted to disclose his denomination because he was not sanctioned to verbalize with media.

The incident took place only one day after the South Sudanese regime and the revolters reached a fresh armistice in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), who mediated the armistice, gave the warring parties 45 days to reach an acquiescent on the formation of a transitional regime of national unity.