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A Ugandan navy helicopter with eight individuals on board crashed and caught fireplace on the predominant worldwide airport in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, a Ugandan military spokesman has advised the BBC.
Three individuals escaped with burns however the different 5 had been “but to be accounted for” following the crash on the Aden Adde Worldwide Airport, Maj Gen Felix Kulaigye stated, including that its trigger was nonetheless unclear.
“We heard the blast and noticed smoke and flames over a helicopter. The smoke solely coated the helicopter,” Farah Abdulle, one of many airport employees, advised Reuters information company.
Somalia’s state-run information company reported that the fireplace was shortly contained by the emergency companies.
Ugandan troops are a part of an 11,000-strong African Union (AU) drive serving to the federal government battle the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group, which has been waging a brutal insurgency in Somalia for greater than twenty years.
The top of the Somali Civil Aviation Authority, Ahmed Maalim, advised the BBC that the helicopter had come down within the airport’s navy part after flying in from the Balidogle airbase within the Decrease Shabelle area, about 90km (56 miles) north-west of Mogadishu.
In an announcement, the AU mission in Somalia stated the three survivors had been taken to hospital for therapy, whereas operations had been below technique to “retrieve the remaining crew and passengers.
Each AU and Somali officers stated an investigation was below technique to set up the reason for the crash.
It delayed the departure of a Turkish Airways passenger aircraft, however home flights have continued to function usually.
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[Getty Images/BBC]
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