Authorities have reportedly managed to locate the site where a plane carrying President Salva Kiir Mayardit crashed in 1993, and recovered his passport.
The travel document, along with those belonging to other passengers who were on board the plane that crashed in Torongo, Baringo County in 1993, had been safely kept by a family that also collected armlets from the scene of the accident, reports Citizen Digital.
According to BBC News, the family that handed over the passport to authorities in Sawmill village had also collected President Kiir’s armlets from the scene of the accident.
South Sudan Presidential Affairs Minister Barnaba Benjamin led a delegation that received Kiir’s travel documents and armlets at a ceremony attended by villagers.
At the time of the crash, Kiir was the chief of general staff of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA).
Kiir and four Sudanese diplomats were travelling from Wilson Aiport in Nairobi to Kamoa, Nimule, and South Sudan when the plane fell from 25,000 feet above the ground.
One passenger was killed instantly in the crash. The rest including Kiir survived the accident and were rescued by locals., reports K24 Digital.
According to Ambassador Bol Wek, who was then a security officer attached to Kiir, six people were on board the chartered plane – the pilot, Wek, Kiir, two Norwegian medics and a Briton. The Briton died on the spot. The pilot and the two Norwegians suffered serious back injuries and are now wheelchair-bound.
In a past interview, the family reportedly said after collecting the documents they kept them for two years without opening them to see their content. But out of curiosity, one of the family members identified as Ezekial Keston decided to check, only to discover that the documents belonged to Sudanese nationals.
As part of their appreciation for rescuing Kirr and other survivors from the crash, the South Sudanese government will build a modern accident and trauma centre at the Eldama Ravine Mission Hospital, which will be named after President Kiir.
Courtesy of South Sudan, the crash site will be part of their heritage and will be developed into a tourism site. Roads will be paved and the health facilities that offered treatment will be upgraded, alongside the proposed Salva Kiir Mayardit Accident and Trauma Centre in Eldama Ravine, reports Nation Africa.