36 Plane Crashes, 87 fatalities since 2011

Updated by Justine Anthony

According to data obtained from the Aviation Safety Network, at least 87 people have died in various plane crashes since South Sudan’s independence from Sudan in 2011.

The biggest incident that claimed 41 lives occurred on November 4, 2015, near Juba International Airport in Central Equatoria State, when Allied Services Limited – lsf Asia Airways crashed while taking off.

The second biggest fatality occurred on September 9, 2018, near Yirol airstrip in Lakes State, when South West Aviation, lsf Slav-Air crashed while landing – a heartbreaking occurrence that killed 20 people, including a bishop. 

Other recent crashes that killed several people include the recent South Supreme Airlines Pieri and last year’s South West Aviation incidents, which killed ten and seven people, respectively.

According to the data presented above, Central Equatoria State, Juba City, had the highest number of incidents that claimed several lives.

Wau Airport took second place among the airstrips that had several incidents, despite the fact that the number of passengers killed was lower.

According to the data, only a few people survived all of the crashes. However, the majority of the occurrences were unintentional. There were no instances of hijacking or criminal activity in any of the cases.

IATA neglected call

The International Air Transport Association encouraged South Sudan’s Civil Aviation Authorities in a letter dated February 8, 2021, to ensure that the desired level of safety and efficiency is implemented in the lower airspace.

Many interventions, according to the association, have not resulted in a clear improvement in safety performance.

Furthermore, the aviation body claimed that Juba is a difficult operational environment due to the following reported deficiencies:

• Air Traffic Services.
• Industrial action by civilian air traffic service personnel.
• Deployment of military air traffic controllers to replace civilian personnel.
• RNAV/GNSS approach procedures are deficient. Previous procedures were cancelled and are no longer valid.
• Frequency congestion as a result of combined Ground, Tower and Approach control services on a single frequency.

IATA recommended that airlines operating within the South Sudan Airspace at a minimum should: 

1. Treat the operation as specialized, and continue to exercise robust risk management practices pertaining to the operation.

2. Ensure crews are well briefed of the above challenges.

3. Operators should continue reporting issues/concerns in the above airspace using safety reporting mechanisms and, where applicable, the IATA GADM IDX program.

However, the appeal appears to have been in vain, or authorities may be carrying it out undercover.

About the Authors:

Justin Anthony, a Data Speaks Fellow at #defyhatenow South Sudan, updated this data story (already in the 211 Check archive), which was edited by 211 Check Editor Emmanuel Bida Thomas and approved for publication by Steve Topua, Data Analyst and Trainer. It’s part of the ongoing #defyhatenow South Sudan Data Speaks Fellowship program with funding from the European Union Delegation to South Sudan.

About South Sudan Data Speaks Fellowship: 

This is a two-month and half data journalism fellowship for South Sudanese content creators with an aim of educating participants on the fundamentals of data journalism through in-depth training facilitated by experienced data analysts.

The fellows have been selected from across South Sudan and they are trained in data sourcing/mining, data analysis, and data visualization for two months and half (October to Mid December) 

Each fellow will produce a minimum of three (03) data stories during the fellowship. The focus will be on increasing access to information 

Jonglei State has 1,025 schools with an enrollment of 91,500 learners this year. In the 200 schools destroyed by floods, over 60,000 learners have been affected.

By Deng Ghai Deng

Authorities in South Sudan’s Jonglei state say more than 200 schools are submerged in flood waters and this is hampering education in the State.  Francis Mayen, the director of School in Jonglei state ministry of education many students and pupils did not return to the school when school reopens in May.

Jonglei State has 1,025 schools with an enrollment of 91,500 learners this year. In the 200 schools destroyed by floods, over 60,000 learners have been affected.

“The problem of flooding which started in 2020 has greatly impacted education in Jonglei state. Most schools in the 9 counties are not operational, they are either shut down because the students left the area or the premises are completely under water.” Mayen said 

Mayen says 70 percent of the students who failed to return to schools are female. He says challenges of school fees, lack of sanitary pads, earlier marriage and economic hindrance could have contributed to the dropout because floods destroyed the majority of the people’s livelihood.

“When crises such as the floods struck many people in South Sudan ignore education and some people opt to marry their daughters off. Economic crisis is also another problem. So when you look at the number of students who are now back at school you see more female students are missing.” Mayen added. 

 In September, the education cluster led by UNICEF and the state government initiated the mapping exercise to determine the effect of flooding on learning activities in Jonglei. The mapping – which covered accessible schools in ten locations – shows that learning and school structures have been severely affected there.

Duku Francis, UNICEF’s education specialist in Jonglei, told reporters that the UN agency was working with the state authorities to support schools.

“We will map out these schools that have been displaced or flooded, and when a school is able to identify a new land, we will provide some basic support to this school,” Francis said 

Recently, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Close to 800,000 people have been affected by rising waters across the country since May, in particular in Jonglei, Unity, and Upper Nile states. The agency stated that Jonglei and Unity were the most affected states accounting for 58 percent of people affected by floods in the country. Early seasonal rains have caused rivers to overflow resulting in flooding in large areas and settlements

Last month the children said the weakened health system compounded by multiple shocks, including COVID-19, has also impacted the health and wellbeing of millions – with more children already needing treatment for acute malnutrition in 2021. Furthermore, an estimated 2.8 million children (51% girls) are out of school in 2021, in addition to 98,500 school-aged refugee children, of which 18,000 children are out of school. “These children need immediate child protection services from multiple risks including recruitment by armed groups, psychosocial stress, family separation, violence, abuse and exploitation in 61 most affected counties,” said Rama Hansraj, Country Director – Save the Children.

About the Authors:

Deng Ghai Deng, a Data Speaks Fellow at #defyhatenow South Sudan, wrote this data story, which was edited by 211 Check Editor Emmanuel Bida Thomas and approved for publication by Steve Topua, Data Analyst and Trainer. It’s part of the ongoing #defyhatenow South Sudan Data Speaks Fellowship program with funding from the European Union Delegation to South Sudan.

About South Sudan Data Speaks Fellowship: 

This is a two-month and half data journalism fellowship for South Sudanese content creators with an aim of educating participants on the fundamentals of data journalism through in-depth training facilitated by experienced data analysts.

The fellows have been selected from across South Sudan and they are trained in data sourcing/mining, data analysis, and data visualization for two months and half (October to Mid December) 

Each fellow will produce a minimum of three (03) data stories during the fellowship. The focus will be on increasing access to information.