South Sudan: armed man hijacks a plane of the American Christian organization Samaritan's Purse
The aircraft took off from Juba when the suspect took control of the flight carrying medical supplies to the northeastern county of Maiwut, forcing the pilot to divert to Chad.
Samaritan's Purse aircraft.
A Cessna Grand Caravan humanitarian aid plane, operated by the U.S. Christian organization Samaritan's Purse in South Sudan, was hijacked Tuesday by a gunman who forced the pilot to divert to Chad.
Samaritan's Purse is an evangelical Christian humanitarian organization, founded in 1970, that provides disaster relief, medical care and development support in more than 100 countries. It is headquartered in Boone, North Carolina.
After several hours of flight, the aircraft landed in Wau to refuel, at which time police detained the suspect with no injuries being reported.
The aircraft departed Juba, South Sudan's capital, in the morning when the gunman took control of the plane, which was carrying medical supplies to the northeastern county of Maiwut, where Samaritan's Purse provides medical assistance.
Police said the man had sneaked onto the plane and hid in the rear cabin before takeoff. According to AP, the suspect was identified as Yasir Mohammed Yusuf, a resident of the Abyei Administrative Area, an oil-rich territory disputed between South Sudan and Sudan.
The motives for the abduction are unknown, as are his reasons for wanting to fly to Chad, a central African country that does not share a border with South Sudan but is in the same region.
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