Wreckage of plane crash in Unity State. (Photo: Courtesy).

The Minister of Interior Angelina Teny said the government will make sure there is accountability for the tragic plane crash in Unity State that killed 20 oil workers last month, amid an ongoing investigation on the incident.

A flight operated by Light Air Service carrying 21 people including 19 passengers and two crew members – crashed shortly after takeoff supposedly for Juba on January 29, 2025, according to the country’s petroleum minister.

The light aircraft had safely landed earlier at the oilfield while transporting a top official of the Greater Pioneer Operating Company (GPOC).

However, after engineers and technical staff of the company boarded the return flight to Juba for a routine monthly shift, it came down in a bushy area three minutes later leaving it severely damaged.

The victims include 15 South Sudan nationals, two Chinese, two Ugandan crew and one Indian and their bodies were transferred to a morgue in Juba. Only one person survived.

Speaking at the funeral event of the deceased engineers, Interior Minister Angelina Teny emphasized that the outcome of one of the deadliest aviation accidents in the country’s history will be made public.

“There’s no way the government can actually neglect such an investigation. Definitely it is our responsibility to ensure accountability and that is going to happen,” she said.

“We’re going to make sure that the outcome of this inquiry is made public. So, if there has been negligence through the chain that approved this plane to be in use and has declared this plane to be airworthy, accountability will be made.”

“We also use those planes. So, it is not only our public, but we are all at risk. That plane that crashed, the whole government of Unity State occasionally uses it. Sometimes members of our government also use it.”

The Interior Minister also used the occasion to offer public apology and assured the grieved families of government’s support

“We would want to really encourage and offer an apology and that it is an obligation to make sure that these families and these young families are taken care of and their rights are reserved and preserved until such time that all other things fall in place.”

Following the incident, President Kiir has expressed “profound sorrow” and ordered the transport ministry and relevant institutions to conduct swift investigation into the incident.

Transport minister Madut Biar said air crash investigation department had retrieved black box from the crash site and will send it the United States for further analysis. There has been no update on the progress of the probe.

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 deadliest 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 killing 20 people, including a bishop.