The Rt Rev Simon Adut was among the dead, Abel confirmed.

One of the survivors, an Italian doctor working with a charity, was in stable condition and flown to Juba having undergone surgery in Yirol, the minister said.

The plane crashed by a river and an eyewitness had earlier said bodies were recovered from the water.

There were three children among the 22 passengers, another source said.

A loss of 13,709 attendees to a total of 556,744 resulted in a 2.4% decline in average Sunday attendance (ASA), despite occurring in a year when Christmas Eve occurred on a Sunday, which typically boosts attendance figures. The church's 10 year decline in attendance currently stands at 24%. The mean ASA is 55 persons, down from 57 in 2016.

The vote in May allowed same-sex blessings in Anglican churches across New Zealand.

The Anglican ruling body, the general Synod, voted in May to allow same-sex blessings, but only if they are authorised by the local bishop. The motion only allowed blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples who were married elsewhere. The proposal would also give each diocese's bishop and clergy immunity from complaint if they refused to conduct blessings of same-sex couples.

"We can actually start making some progress! The Church of England should be better than this. It's how it works. It should be able to cope with dissent and disagreement - good disagreement. I spoke to Synod last year- some of you may have been there. I was slightly undercover, in that I didn't tell Stonewall I was doing it! -- and I thought 'This suits you. This indecisiveness suits how you work.' And we need to be better than that."