A small passenger plane has crashed in South Sudan, killing all 15 people on board, the country’s Civil Aviation Authority has confirmed.
The Cessna 208 Caravan, operated by CityLink Aviation Ltd, went down on Monday morning about 20 kilometres south-west of the capital, Juba. The aircraft took off from Yei at 09:15 local time and air traffic control lost contact approximately 30 minutes into the flight to Juba.
Among those who perished were 13 South Sudanese nationals and two Kenyans, including the pilot and 14 passengers. 
The South Sudan Civil Aviation Authority said officials had been dispatched to the crash site to carry out investigations, with initial reports suggesting the aircraft may have come down “due to adverse weather conditions, particularly low visibility.”
South Sudan, the world’s youngest country, has a poorly developed transport network and a troubled aviation safety record. More than 55 planes crashed in the country in the decade following independence in 2011, resulting in dozens of fatalities. Accidents have been attributed to ageing aircraft, weak regulatory compliance, overloading, poor weather and pilot errors.
Monday’s crash is the latest in a series of deadly aviation incidents in the country. In January 2025, 20 oil workers died after their aircraft came down three minutes after take-off near the oil fields of Unity state in the north while heading to Juba. The deadliest recorded crash occurred in November 2015, when an Antonov plane crashed near Juba airport, killing 41 people.
