44-year-old aircraft was reportedly carrying 18 people along with the cargo, but was only


This is the astonishing moment a baby was pulled alive from the wreckage of a cargo plane which crashed in South Sudan, killing up to 41 people.

The boy was plucked from the mangled fuselage after the aircraft came down near a river, scattering debris and bodies across remote farmland.

He was one of only two survivors pulled from the crash, but the other one later died.

The Russian-made Antonov-12 aircraft crashed along the banks of the White Nile River this morning barely a mile from the airport in the capital Juba.

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Miracle: Rescuers carry a baby who was pulled from the wreckage of a cargo plane that crashed in South Sudan, killing dozens of people

South Sudanese officials cross the river in a boat to take an injured man and baby to hospital from the crashed Russian cargo plane in Juba

Horror: Locals gather at the site where a cargo plane crashed in South Sudan shortly after taking off from Juba airport, killing at least 25 people

Witnesses say bodies, including those of children, were strewn among the wreckage which was scattered in a wooded area along the Nile River

Amid conflicting reports, the death toll ranged from 25 to 41 as humanitarian workers and investigators began combing the crash site.

The plane, which had been bound for the Paloich oil fields in Upper Nile state, was registered in Tajikistan and belonged to Allied Services Limited, said Ateny Wek Ateny, a spokesman for South Sudanese President Salva Kiir.

A spokesman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Tigran Mkrtchian, confirmed five Armenian crew members died.

Besides the five Armenians, a Russian crew member also died, Ateny said.

He said 10 people on the ground were killed. But witnesses and first responders said no one had been present in the swampy farm plot when the plane came down.

Disaster: Presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny said the plane had been bound for the Paloch oil fields in Upper Nile state when it crashed

Destroyed: The scene of a cargo airplane that crashed after take-off near Juba Airport in South Sudan killing at least 25 people

Shocking: Packages of sandals, cigarettes, beer and crackers were strewn amid the bodies and wreckage of the Russian-built cargo plane

Officials investigate the scene of a cargo plane that crashed after take-off near Juba Airport in South Sudan on Wednesday

Obliterated: The crash site was just 800 metres from the runway it took off from in the South Sudanese capital of Juba

'There were 12 passengers and six crew members, including five Armenians and one Russian, on board the AN-12 plane that crashed in South Sudan,' Mr Atney said, adding that all passengers were Sudanese.

A Ukrainian diplomat in Kenya said five Russians were on the aircraft.

'It is known that the plane belonged to a private company and was Russian-made. The cargo plane was carrying out a transportation request of some oil company.

'According to preliminary data, 12 people were on board. Five of them were Russian citizens, the nationality of the rest is being determined,' said third secretary Alexander Kalinchuk.

Mr Ateny said the plane had been bound for the Paloich oil fields in Upper Nile state, where rebels and government forces have been battling for control.

Bashir Yashin, who saw the plane come down, said it seemed as though the plane might crash into a market area before the pilot apparently diverted.

A Russian-made Antonov-12 cargo plane like the one which crashed in South Sudan

Downed: The cargo plane was heading to Paloch in Upper Nile State when it crashed just 800 metres from Juba International Airport runway

Russian TV channel LifeNews quoted an unnamed source at the Russian aviation agency as saying the plane appeared to have been overloaded and that it was made in the Soviet Union in 1971.

Officials said the plane belonged to freight and logistics firm Allied Services Ltd, but staff at the firm could not immediately be reached for comment.

'We have rushed to the site of crash which is located near the airport, southeast of Juba International Airport (across) the river,' said the chief executive of the Civil Aviation Authority at Juba airport, Stephen Warikozi.

'We have secured the site of crash and also we are in the stage of recovering bodies and the black box,' he said. 'We are still now recovering the dead bodies and we cannot give you the exact number.'

It is common for the security services to put family members on the cargo planes to Paloich even if they are not on the manifest, according to Kenyi Galla, assistant operations manager for Combined Air Services, a company that operates chartered flights across South Sudan.

The doomed flight was not chartered by his company, Mr Galla said.

Juba international airport (above) hosts regular commercial flights, as well as a constant string of military aircraft and cargo planes delivering aid to remote regions cut off by road

'Normally (this flight) used to carry 12 people, but the problem is they added more people,' he said. 'This plane is just for cargo, not for passengers. It was just chartered for goods.'

The UN Mission in South Sudan was providing assistance to an emergency operation at the crash site of an An-12 cargo plane.

After the crash, planes were still taking off and landing at the airport.

Many parts of South Sudan, which became an independent nation in 2011, have been hit by violence since December 2013, with government forces under President Salva Kiir battling rebels led by his former deputy, Riek Machar.

Fighting persists despite a peace agreement signed in August.