Cargo Plane Crash in South Sudan Kills At Least 15 as Witnesses Dispute Death Toll

Over one dozen people reportedly died this week after a Russian cargo plane crashed in South Sudan near the capital.

The Russian transport plane was reportedly carrying several passengers when it crashed shortly after taking off in Juba, South Sudan.

While death toll figures continue to differ, government officials in South Sudan have said that 15 of the 18 passengers died in the crash.

"This is the number given to us by the [control] tower," presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny told Reuters.

Stephen Warikozi, head of Civil Aviation at the Juba airport, told BBC in a statement that officials are still in recovery mode for the crash and cannot give an exact number of fatalities.

Some witnesses have reportedly numbers as high as 41, but others have suggested that these are people who were on the ground when the plane crashed.

Rescuers are currently "in the stage of recovering bodies and black box," Warikozi told the media outlet, adding "We cannot give you the exact number."

Kenyi Galla, who works for a chartered flight service in South Sudan, told the Daily Mail that he believes the plane crashed because it was carrying a large amount of cargo as well as too many passengers.

"Normally [this flight] used to carry 12 people, but the problem is they added more people," he told the media outlet, adding "This plane is just for cargo, not for passengers. It was just chartered for goods."

Photos from the crash site show large quantities of cargo, including cigarettes, shoes and canned food, among other items.