3 Indians among 115 dead in Sudan crash

Major General Nur Al-Hoda Fadlallah and others died when the Boeing 737 came down near Port Sudan, where the anti-aircraft command is based, he said. ‘‘All of the dead, including the foreigners, were buried at the scene,’’ Ajab added.

The pilot of the Sudan Airways flight reported ‘‘technical problems’’ about 10 minutes after taking off Port Sudan on the Red Sea for the capital Khartoum, around 650 km to the southwest, a government spokesman said.

The control tower was told by the pilot that he was trying to return to Port Sudan, but crashed on a strip of land near the Red Sea coast about 18 km from the airport, the spokesman, said. A young child was the only survivor. The plane had 116 people on board including the crew.

A spokesman for the national flag carrier said Mohammed Al-Fatih, an infant who lost a leg, survived and not Lena Abdallah, a two-year-old girl named earlier. ‘‘There was confusion over the identification because Lena Abdullah was on the flight and died,’’ Ajab said.

Sudan Airways employees said the 737 was the only aircraft owned by the airline. All other planes in its fleet were leased. Ihab Al-Amin, a correspondent of Al-Khartoum daily who visited the scene, said many bodies were badly burnt.

It was not clear how identification would proceed after the quick burials. A Sudan Airways employee said the plane had 11 crew members, most of them Sudanese.