Aircraft crashes at Malakal Airport, damaging its wheels and wings. (Social Media)

A passenger aircraft hired to transport returnees from Upper Nile State experienced a runway excursion and sustained serious damage on Friday morning at Malakal Airport, an official said.

The aircraft – Super 80 McDonnell Douglas with a registration – 5Y-AXL had a rough landing at the airport at 8:33 am leading to extensive damage.

Photos shared on social media show the plane first touched down in a bushy area before reaching the runway threshold.

It then destroyed the two back wheels and smashed its wings on the ground until it came to a stop at the far end of the runway.

Acting State Governor Jeremiah Deng Akol, however, said the crash is a minor issue and no one was reported injured.

“That is a minor accident, it was about to land, and it landed in a rough way. People are safe and the aircraft itself got damaged, but the people are okay,” he said.

It is not clear what triggered the excursion by the passenger jet.

Mr. Deng said the aircraft was contracted by the national government to airlift returnees coming from Sudan, adding that until the crash, it had been airlifting a number of three hundred returnees per a day for two weeks.

“It is one of the companies chartered by the government, it is chartered by the National government to facilitate the movement of the returnees who are accumulated here in Malakal.”

“The aircraft used to come and pick a number of 300 per a day or more than three hundred because it used to come twice a day and in one round it takes like 180.”

Plane crashes are commonly reported in South Sudan in what authorities blame on aged planes smuggled into the country by aviation companies.