Kenyan plane carrying flood aid crashes in Somalia

MOGADISHU, Somalia

An aircraft from Djibouti carrying humanitarian aid crashed at an airport in central Somalia on Tuesday, leaving a thick black smoke visible for miles.

The plane crashed at Beledweyne Airport, also known as Haaji-shiekh hamud hasan Airport, in the area of Hiran.

“The plane crashed just as it landed. We managed to rescue three people before it burst into flames,” a local in the area told local media, without giving any more details on whether there were other occupants inside the plane or not.

Locals could be seen on top of the crashed plane with buckets of water trying to put out a large fire that engulfed the plane.

Aviation Safety Network, which monitors aircraft accidents, said in a statement posted on its official Twitter handle that the plane was a “A Kenyan DHC-8 aircraft [which] crashed and burst into flames at Beledweyne Airport, Somalia. Reportedly everyone on board survived the accident.”

Local media reported that the plane was carrying humanitarian aid for people displaced by floods in Beledweyne.

It is not clear what caused the crash of the aircraft just minutes before it landed.

In May, Ethiopia admitted that it shot down a Kenyan plane carrying humanitarian and medical supplies in Somalia, killing all six people on board. Authorities said they shot down the plane due to lack of communication and unusual flight patterns.

Kenya expressed shock over the incident, saying the plane was on a humanitarian mission amid the coronavirus pandemic.