The South Sudan Red Cross Society says it has recovered 37 bodies from the wreckage of a plane that crashed this morning in Juba.

But rescuers say they need heavy machines to remove metal parts that may have trapped more bodies.

Our reporter at the scene, Dominic Santo says he counted 41 dead bodies at the bank of the River Nile, four of whom are members of the crew.

The director of Juba airport, Kuol Kur, says the Airliner EY406 crashed just a few minutes after takeoff.

He told Eye Radio that the plane was heading to Paloch in Upper Nile State, but he could not confirm the identities of the passengers who were on board.

“Up to now we don’t have the exact number of the people who were in the plane. We are still waiting for more details from the officials,” our report Dominic Santo said.

“Two people were rescued and taken to hospital. Now I don’t know their fate in the hospital: one man and a child,” he said.

The director of the airport, Mr Kuol Kur, says relevant authorities will issue an official statement soon.

“The owner of the company will come and tell us how many people were on board because we have not yet got him right now,” said Mr. Kur.

“So that he tells us exactly, and compare the number of people and the bodies collected. It’s a company called Allied Service Company ….”

Officials have not given preliminary accounts of the cause of the crash.