All 30 passengers, 4 crew members survived; only 2 people injured
By Peter Aitken
A small plane landing in Somalia drove off of the runway upon arrival and crashed into a fence, shattering into pieces upon impact.
“There was no fatality from the accident except minor injuries,” the Somali Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) said in a brief statement. “The SCAA would like to reaffirm that the preliminary report will be released once the current investigation concludes.”
Video captured the crash at Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu on Tuesday, showing how the plane skidded off the tarmac and burst through a protective barrier, at which point the wing exploded and other pieces of the plane fell off.
The Halla Airlines flight was carrying 30 passengers and four crew members as it tried to land at around 12:30 p.m. local time, according to VOA Somalia.
The pilot did not report any issues to air traffic control prior to the incident.
Fardowsa Osman Egal, the Somali minister of transport and civil aviation, said two people were injured and investigations are ongoing.
A spokesperson for the airline said it will publish the results of an investigation that the company has initiated.
“Facts will be established once the cockpit voice recorder and black box are analyzed,” the spokesperson said.
The mishap recalls a similar incident in which 30 passengers all survived a plane crash at the Mogadishu airport in July 2022. That plane ended upside down after flipping over during landing.
More than 150 domestic and international flights use Mogadishu’s airport daily, according to the airport authority.
Reuters contributed to this report.
