KHARTOUM, Sudan - A plane carrying about 200 passengers veered off a runway late Tuesday amid thunderstorms and burst into flames. The number of casualties was not immediately known.
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An Associated Press reporter at the scene said the plane arriving from Amman, Jordan apparently left the runway as it landed in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan.
The head of Sudanese police, Mohammad Najib, said bad weather "caused the plane to crash land, split into two and catch fire."
"We believe that most of the passengers were able to make it out and escape with their lives," said Najib, without disclosing further details on how they escaped.
But he stressed that officials could not say for sure how many were killed.
The plane took off from Damascus, Syria, Najib said. Al-Jazeera television station said it was a Sudanese Airways passenger jet, and Najib confirmed the plane was from a Sudanese airline.
Sudan has a poor aviation safety record. In May, a plane crash in a remote area of southern Sudan killed 24 people, including key members of the southern Sudanese government.
In July 2003, a Sudan Airways Boeing 737 en route from Port Sudan to Khartoum crashed soon after takeoff, killing all 115 people on board.
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