Crashed IL-76 in North Darfur: Sorting through the wreckage

CIR’s Sudan Witness project verified that an Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft crashed in the Al-Malha region of North Darfur state on 21 October. Analysts geolocated footage of the crash site to an area 115 kilometres (km) northeast of Kutum, North Darfur.

Sudan Witness verified the presence of another destroyed aircraft resembling an IL-76 just two weeks earlier on 8 October.

Verifying the incident

On 21 October 2024, pro-Rapid Support Forces (RSF) social media channels circulated images and videos showing a crash site. The RSF posted a statement to Telegram in which they claimed that they shot down a “foreign military aircraft supporting the [Sudanese Armed Forces] SAF.” On 21 October, a pro-RSF Facebook account shared a video showing RSF fighters next to debris and human remains, which was geolocated to an area 115 km northeast of Kutum in the Al-Malha region of North Darfur.

Sudan Witness identified the approximate location through analysing Planet satellite imagery, which showed a burn scar over 130 m in length. The exact location was determined based on the footage of the crash site, which showed  a distinct mountain and a mountain range. Using PeakVisor, a tool used to identify mountains and measure elevation, Sudan Witness matched the mountain shape to Jebel Murwat, and the mountain range to the range spanning from Jebel Barbetti to Koni.

Sudan Witness identified the approximate location through analysing Planet satellite imagery, which showed a burn scar over 130 m in length. The exact location was determined based on the footage of the crash site, which showed  a distinct mountain and a mountain range. Using PeakVisor, a tool used to identify mountains and measure elevation, Sudan Witness matched the mountain shape to Jebel Murwat, and the mountain range to the range spanning from Jebel Barbetti to Koni.

Identifying the plane

Sudan Witness determined that the aircraft was an Ilyushin Il-76 based on three factors. Firstly, a pro-RSF Facebook account shared a video on 21 October, that Sudan Witness verified was taken at the same location, showing two RSF soldiers standing over the debris of a turbofan engine. Sudan Witness matched components of the engine debris based on an image of an intact Ilyushin Il-76 engine from WikiCommons (figure 3).

Secondly, on 21 October, Sudan News shared a video to X, that Sudan Witness verified was at the same site, showing RSF fighters inspecting debris surrounding the plane. Sudan Witness determined that the visible debris was the front section of the plane’s stabiliser, as used onIlyushin Il-76 aircrafts (figure 4). Lastly, on the afternoon of 21 October an OSINT account on X shared an image of a safety card, providing passengers with information on what to do in the event of a crash, referring to an “Il-76” with the registration number EX-76011. Although the authenticity of the safety card could not be verified, a search of the registration number on the open source flight tracking platform Flight Radar shows that the plane was registered in Kyrgyzstan. On 22 October, Kyrgyzstan State Civil Aviation Agency confirming the registration number following the crash in a statement.

The crew

Other footage of the crash site also showed personal documents, including a Russian passport and an ID card for Manas International Airport in Kyrgyzstan, which RSF fighters claimed were found at the crash site. Although Sudan Witness could not verify the authenticity of the documents, it identified two people who may have been on the aircraft.

The first potential passenger was identified by seven images of a Russian passport allegedly recovered from the scene, which were posted on a pro-RSF Telegram channel on 21 October. The name on the document is Anton Alexandrovich Selivanets (АНТОН АЛЕКСАНДРОВИЧ СЕЛИВАНЕЦ). On the same day, a pro-RSF channel posted a video showing the same man in the cockpit of an Il-76. However, Sudan Witness has not been able to confirm that this individual was involved in the incident, or whether the Il-76 is the same aircraft that crashed.

Clashing narratives

On 21 October, the Russian embassy in Sudan published a statement to its official Telegram channel acknowledging the crash. The statement claimed that the embassy was working with Sudanese authorities to establish the circumstances surrounding the crash. The SAF had not released an official statement on the incident at the time of writing. Following the RSF’s claims that the aircraft carried out airstrikes in the Al Malha region, Sudan Witness verified that eight craters became visible in the vicinity of the crash on Planet satellite imagery on 22 October. These craters were not present in earlier images (figure 6).

Other IL-76 activity in Sudan

Planet satellite imagery from 6 October showed that the plane likely suffered significant burn damage while stationed at the runway. The burned aircraft can be seen at the northern end of the runway (figure 8). The satellite image was corroborated by photos posted by a pro-SAF journalist on 13 October, which showed two images of an Ilyushin Il-76 with burn damage to its engines. The journalist claimed that the images were of the aircraft identified on satellite imagery. Sudan Witness geolocated the image to the airstrip in West Kordofan where the plane had been seen on satellite imagery. The images were cross referenced with PeakVisor, which showed the mountains of Jebel Sukunja Kebir and Jabal Adashir in the background (figure 7). Based on this, Sudan Witness assessed that the image of the damaged plane seen in the journalist’s post on X was the same damaged plane seen on satellite imagery.

Finally, Planet satellite imagery from 15 October showed that the aircraft had not moved since 3 October, likely due to the verified damage. Although this confirms other Il-76 activity in Sudan in the month of October, Sudan Witness has not seen evidence to date that this aircraft was linked with the Al-Malha incident.