A Sudanese airliner carrying 217 people burst into flames after landing at Khartoum airport and local media said up to half the passengers were feared killed.

Sudanese television showed film of the aircraft ablaze in the darkness while emergency workers played water hoses on the burning fuselage. The airliner, identified by Sudanese television as an Airbus, was carrying 203 passengers and 14 crew, it said.

“The plane was coming from Amman and Syria... it landed safely at Khartoum airport and they talked to the control tower which told them where to taxi. At this moment an explosion happened,” airport director Yusuf Ibrahim told Sudanese television.

“Whether it is a technical reason, we don’t know yet.

He said a large number of passengers had survived.

“We don’t know yet if there are still passengers inside who have died.”

At least one bus had ferried passengers away from the plane, an airport engineer told Reuters, and medical sources said some people were taken to hospitals in Khartoum.

The emergency escape chutes could be seen deployed at the side of the aircraft. Ambulances arrived on the scene. The blaze appeared to be consuming the fuselage and cockpit area.

At the time of the landing a dust storm in the Sudanese capital was restricting visibility, residents said.