AfricaTopSuccess They make Africa
A Ugandan military helicopter crashed and burst into flames, killing five people on board at the main international airport of the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
The pilot, co-pilot and flight engineer survived with serious injuries and severe burns, Ugandan military spokesman Maj. Gen. Felix Kulaigye said, adding that an investigation into the cause of the crash was underway.
“We heard the blast and saw smoke and flames over a helicopter. The smoke entirely covered the helicopter,” Farah Abdulle, one of the staff at the airport, told Reuters news agency.
The fire was quickly contained by the emergency services at the Aden Adde International Airport, reports stated.
Ugandan troops are part of an 11,000-strong African Union (AU) force helping the government fight the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group, which has been waging a brutal insurgency in Somalia for more than two decades.
The helicopter that crashed had been conducting a routine combat escort mission, Maj. Gen. Kulaigye said, without giving further details.
The head of the Somali Civil Aviation Authority, Ahmed Maalim, said the helicopter had come down in the airport’s military section after flying in from the Balidogle airbase in the Lower Shabelle region, about 90km (56 miles) northwest of Mogadishu.
The crash delayed the departure of a Turkish Airlines passenger plane, but domestic flights continued to operate normally.
