Southern Sudan president in air crash scare

Nov 25, 2009 1:46 PM | By Sapa-dpa

The president of Southern Sudan narrowly avoided becoming the second successive leader of the autonomous region to die in an air crash when a tyre burst on his plane just before take-off at an northern Ugandan airfield.

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South Sudan's President Salva Kiir
Photograph by: SUKREE SUKPLANG
Credit: REUTERS

Salva Kiir - who is also the vice president of Sudan - was departing on a Russian-made Antonov after meeting Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni when a tyre blew, Museveni's spokesman Josepeh Tamale Mirundi told the German Press Agency dpa.

However, the Russian pilot managed to bring the plane under control and prevent a crash.

Kiir's predecessor John Garang - the founding president of Southern Sudan and former rebel leader - died in July 2005 when the Ugandan helicopter carrying him crashed near the Uganda-Sudan border.