Ethiopian military helicopter crashed in disputed region of Africa

An Ethiopian military helicopter crashed inside a United Nations compound in the disputed Abyei region between Sudan and South Sudan, killing three crew members and injuring 10 passengers, the UN said in a statement on Sunday.
The statement said the helicopter was carrying 23 passengers when it crashed on Saturday inside the compound of the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), “killing three of its crew members.”
“Ten passengers were injured with three in critical condition,” it said.
The MI-8 helicopter was carrying Ethiopian troops from Kadugli in Sudan to Abyei, which has been contested since South Sudan gained independence in 2011.
“We are investigating the incident,” said UNISFA’s acting Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Gebre Adhana Woldezgu.
Ethiopia is the sole troop contributing country to UNISFA, with some 4,500 soldiers on the ground
The UN Security Council has warned that the situation in Abyei and along the Sudan-South Sudan border “continues to constitute a serious threat to international peace,” and called on the two countries to show concrete progress on border demarcation and monitoring
At least 17 people died in South Sudan on Sunday (September 9,2018) when a small aircraft carrying passengers from Juba International Airport to the city of Yirol crashed, State information Minister Taban Abel told Reuters.
“The plane crashed and killed 17 people and we have three survivors,” Abel told Reuters by phone from Yirol. The plane carried a total of 22 people and two were still missing.
One of the survivors, an Italian doctor working with an NGO, is in critical condition and undergoing surgery in Yirol Hospital, the minister said. The plane crashed by a river and an eye witness had earlier said bodies were recovered from the water. There were three children among the 22 passengers, a source said.
David Subek, Chief Executive officer of South Sudan Civil Aviation Authority in Juba, confirmed the crash and told Reuters he did not know the death toll yet.
Several crashes have occurred in war-torn South Sudan in recent years. In 2017, four passengers were injured after bad weather caused their plane to crash into a fire truck upon landing and burst into flames.
In 2015, dozens of people were killed when a Russian-built cargo plane with passengers on board crashed after taking off from the airport in Juba.
“We are still removing bodies from the water because the aircraft fell into a river. So far, in front of me there are six bodies recovered from the water,” a witness said previously.