Due to inclement weather, the aircraft stopped at Port Sudan Airport along the Red Sea picking up 35 passengers and refueling before heading back, Sudanese Ambassador John Ukec Lueth Ukec said in Washington.

Upon arrival the weather was "still very bad," said Ukec. "There was a lot of water on the runway and they still tried to land."

Most of the passengers were believed to be Sudanese, with some foreigners among them, the ambassador said.

Spokesmen for the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington said they were monitoring the situation.

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.

The Airbus A310 is a twin-engine, widebody plane used by a number of carriers around the world. Typically configured with about 220 seats, it is a shorter version of the popular A300.

Airbus is operated by the European aerospace giant European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. It has delivered 255 A310s as of May.

An Airbus spokesman in Paris declined immediate comment on the crash.

Rescuers remove bodies from the scene where a Sudanese jetliner veered off a runway after landing amid thunderstorms and exploded into flames, at the airport in the capital Khartoum, Sudan late Tuesday, June 10, 2008. Over 200 passengers were aboard the plane when it landed with conflicting initial reports as to the number of casualties. [Agencies]