2024 Darfur Ilyushin Il-76 shootdown

2024 Darfur Ilyushin Il-76 shootdown
ST-JAN, the Ilyushin Il-76T involved in the accident, pictured under a previous registration and still service with Asia Continental Airlines
Shootdown
Date21 October 2024 (2024-10-21)
SummaryShootdown
Site
Aircraft
Aircraft typeIlyushin Il-76T
OperatorSudanese Armed Forces
RegistrationST-JAN
Flight originPort Sudan New International Airport, Port Sudan, Sudan
DestinationEl Fasher Airport, Al Fashir, Sudan
Occupants5
Crew5
Fatalities5
Survivors0

On 21 October 2024, a cargo Ilyushin Il-76 was shot down over the Darfur region of western Sudan by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) during the Sudanese civil war. All five people aboard were killed. The aircraft was operated by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) on a mission to deliver equipment and medicine to the army-held city of Al-Fashir.

The aircraft involved was an Ilyushin Il-76 registered previously as EX-76011 with serial number 0013428831 operated by New Way Cargo Airlines registered in Kyrgyzstan. The aircraft was exported to Sudan on 12 January 2024 where it was re-registered ST-JAN; the initial report that it was EX-76011 was on account of a safety card bearing this registration being found in the wreckage. The plane was operating since December 2023 from Port Sudan. It previously have supplied the RSF but at the time of its shootdown was supplying the SAF.