A mid-flight explosion occurred on a passenger airplane in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, causing a hole on the side of the fuselage.
The Daalo Airlines aircraft, flying from Mogadishu, Somalia to Djibouti with approximately 60 passengers on board, may have been victim to a terrorist attack. US Government sources say the explosion was most likely caused by a bomb.
Soon after take-off, an explosion occurred on the right side of the plane, resulting in a sizeable hole on the side of the aircraft. Somali authorities found a badly burnt body on the ground which they believe may have been blown out of the airplane, although this has not yet been confirmed.
The 64-year old pilot, Vladimir Vodopivec, managed to land the plane safely. “Luckily, the flight controls were not damaged so I could return and land at the airport. We lost pressure in the cabin. Thank God it ended well,” he said.
Al-Shabaab has been behind some of the worst violence in recent years in the East African region. However, no group has yet claimed responsibility for this incident.
The video below shows raw footage of inside the plane after the explosion.
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