Major General Nur al-Hoda Fadlallah died when the Boeing 737 came down near Port Sudan, where the anti-aircraft command is based, according to Jalal Mahmud al-Ajab, the director of external relations for Sudan Airways.

Ajab also told AFP that three Indians, one Chinese, one Ethiopian, one Briton and one United Arab Emirates national also died in the crash.

The nationality of an eighth foreigner who was reported killed was not known, he said.

There was no immediate confirmation of the deaths from the respective embassies.

"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 kilometers (400 miles) to the southwest, a government spokesman said earlier.

He told the control tower the pilot was trying to return to Port Sudan, but crashed on a strip of land near the Red Sea coast about 18 kilometersmiles) from the airport, the spokesman, Abdel Hamid Abdeen, told AFP.

A young child was the only survivor.

WAR.WIRE