A Boeing 727-200 freighter with more than 300 passengers onboard overshot the runway at Juba Airport (JUB) in South Sudan on April 28th. The aircraft, with registration EY-627, was previously operated by Astral Aviation, the Kenyan cargo specialist that retired the aircraft at the end of October 2022.
The Boeing 727 was then sold to Eagle Enterprise, a South Sudanese logistics and construction company, and ferried to Juba on October 29th.
The incident occurred while the aircraft was evacuating civilians due to the ongoing armed conflict in Sudan between the paramilitary forces of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Government Armed Forces.
Cargo plane coming from paloch with over 300 passengers fleeing Sudan Fighting has overran the runway at Juba International Airport.
No casualties have been reported.
The aircraft was hired by national MP and businessman Bibi Ali and his wife as help. #SSOT pic.twitter.com/fkLu4mkIA8— Daniel Garang Deng 🇸🇸 (@DanielGarang9) April 28, 2023
The circumstances surrounding the runway excursion are currently unknown, but fortunately, there were no injuries reported, and only structural damage to the aircraft. The airport was closed while investigations continue but the event highlights the risks involved in such large-scale evacuation efforts during times of conflict.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the conflict has already accumulated 559 fatalities and thousands of wounded, prompting the evacuation of thousands of Sudanese and foreign civilians to neighboring countries, mainly South Sudan.
A number of countries have been involved in an international mega-operation to evacuate foreign inhabitants, with dozens of planes of different nationalities participating. However, this particular evacuation effort involved a Boeing 727f with an unprecedented number of 300 passengers onboard.
This event may remind some of the historic evacuation of more than 14,000 Jews from Ethiopia to Israel after the fall of the Derg government, which saw Boeing 747 and C-130 aircraft used to transport the largest number of people. The record for passengers carried on a single aircraft was set by the B747 with registration (4X-AXD), with 1,089 registered passengers. But many mothers hid their young children in their clothes, so the final count was 1,122 passengers
Featured image: Twitter
