At least 19 killed in South Sudan air crash

At least 19  people have died after a plane landing in thick fog crashed into a river in South Sudan. The plane, a South West Aviation Let L-410, was flying from the capital Juba to the city of Yirol with 20 passengers and three crew. It crashed into the Yirol River, south of the aerodrome, and 19 bodies were recovered by local fishing boats, according to respected website The Aviation Herald. The Aviation Herald said a written manifest listed 17 adults and three children as passengers. The BBC reported the victims included the pilot and co-pilot, a member of the Red Cross and an Anglican bishop. Read UTAir overruns runway. "When it arrived the weather was so foggy and when it tried to land it crashed into Lake Yirol adjacent to Yirol town,"  the British news service quoted regional government minister  Abel Aguek as saying. "The whole town is in shock, the shops are closed, some people have taken their relatives for burial. It is a commercial plane that crashed," he added. Photographs of the sunken wreckage were posted on social media by Radio Miraya, which said a Ugandan national had been identified as one of the dead. The Let L-410 is a twin-engine short-range transport aircraft manufactured by Czech-based aircraft manufacturer Let Kunovice. More than 1200 L410s have been built and over 350 are in service in more than 50 countries. The company was taken over by Russian company UGMK in 2013. In March last year, an Antonov 26 operated by South Supreme Airlines and carrying 45 passengers and crew was written off when it crashed while landing in poor visibility at Wau Airport in South Sudan. Reports said the left main landing gear hit a fire truck besides the runway and the aircraft burst into flames. The plane was destroyed but there were no fatalities.