EuropaWorld 11/5/2001 JRed Cross Pilot Killed Over Sudan

Underlining the danger that continues to face humanitarian workers delivering assistance to those in need, a Danish pilot from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was killed this week when his plane came under fire during a humanitarian mission over southern Sudan. His death comes less than two weeks after the brutal shooting of six Red Cross personnel workers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a crime still being investigated. Kenzo Oshima, the UN's Emergency Relief Co-ordinator, said that he was deeply saddened to learn of this latest tragedy.

According to the ICRC, the aircraft was fired on midway between Lokichokio, Kenya, and Juba in southern Sudan. The attack occurred when the aircraft was climbing back to its assigned altitude after a technical problem had forced it to descend briefly to 2,000 metres. The captain of the aircraft said that when the incident occurred he had heard what sounded like explosions and realised that his co-pilot had been hit. He turned back to Lokichokio but the co-pilot was dead on arrival. ICRC said there were no passengers on the flight, which was a routine mission and had received the necessary authorisations from all the parties on the ground.