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Plane Conveying Coronavirus Supplies Crashes In Somalia, Kills All Onboard
An aircraft conveying aid supplies for coronavirus has crashed in Somalia. The crashed aircraft has 6 people on board thereby killing all its occupants.
Somali transport minister, Mohamed Abdullahi Salad disclosed that a plane carrying aid supplies to aid the fight against COVID-19 crashed in Somalia on Monday, May 4, 2020, killing all six people on board.
State-run Somalia News Agency said that the plane belonged to African Express Airways and was ferrying supplies for use in the fight against coronavirus.“An African (Express) Airways plane from Mogadishu flew to Baidoa and then continued its flight to Bardale town where it crashed,” the agency said on its website. “It is not clear why it crashed.”
According to Mohamed Salad, the six people on board were the pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer, a trainee pilot, as well as two people working for the airline. With only five bodies recovered so far, Salad declined to speculate on the cause of the crash. Nevertheless, Abdirashid Abdullahi Mohamed, Somalia’s former Minister of Defense told Reuters he spoke to a witness who told him that the plane made an initial attempt to land. It swung around because of wildlife on the airfield and then appeared to be shot on one wing on its second approach.
Similarly, Somalia’s Secretary-General Abdalle Ahmed Mumin revealed on twitter that the initial investigation shows that Ethiopian forces who were on training exercise shot the plane down.
Al-Shabab, the al-Qaeda-linked armed group fighting the Somali government has a presence in the area where the plane came down, it can’t be confirmed if the group is responsible for the crash or not. The al-Shabaab insurgency has not made any comment concerning the crash.