Gunman hijacks aid plane in South Sudan, demands flight to Chad

A gunman hijacked a small aid plane in South Sudan on Tuesday and forced the pilot to fly for several hours before the aircraft landed safely in the northern town of Wau, police said. The suspect was arrested on the runway, and no injuries were reported.

The Cessna Grand Caravan, operated by the U.S.-based Christian relief organisation Samaritan’s Purse, had taken off from Juba with medical supplies bound for Maiwut in the country’s northeast. Police said the gunman, identified as Yasir Mohammed Yusuf, hid in the rear cabin before takeoff.

Yusuf is from the Abyei Administrative Area, a contested oil-rich territory claimed by both South Sudan and Sudan. Authorities said they still do not know why he attempted to divert the aircraft to Chad, a destination that does not share a border with South Sudan.

After circling in the air for hours, the pilot convinced the hijacker that the aircraft needed fuel and diverted to Wau, where security forces detained the suspect, said Santino Udol Mayen, police spokesperson for Western Bahr el Ghazal state.

Police said the gunman was wearing a reflective vest with the logo of an air charter company operating at Juba International Airport. The company’s managing director, Paul Antrobus, said they employ no one with that name.

In a statement, Samaritan’s Purse spokesperson Melissa Strickland thanked authorities for a “safe outcome.”

The incident comes just days after a separate plane chartered by the same aid organisation crashed in Unity State on 25 November, killing all three crew members.