Flight Makes Emergency Landing Following a Mid-air Explosion Over Somalia

[Update 2/3/16: Officials do not yet know the cause of the explosion, though the aircraft’s pilot was quoted as saying, “I think it was a bomb. Luckily, the flight controls were not damaged so I could return and land at the airport.” According to the Daily Mail, one passenger, an elderly man, “caught fire and was sucked from his seat and out of the Airbus A321. The charred body of a man, who may have fallen from the plane, was found in Balad, 18 miles from Mogadishu.”]

Varying accounts of a fire and explosion aboard a Daallo Airlines flight have led to confusion over the number and degree of casualties, fueling speculation about a possible bomb.

A Daallo Airlines flight bound from Mogadishu International Airport (MGQ) to Djibouti–Ambouli International Airport (JIB) was forced to land moments after takeoff when an onboard fire and loud explosion rocked the plane. Initial reports say two passengers were injured when the explosion blew a hole in the side of the airliner on Tuesday.

“Daallo Airline was enroute to Djibouti but it landed shortly after it took off,” Mohamed Hussein, an agent for Daallo Airlines told Reuters. “A fire exploded and two passengers were slightly wounded.”

Despite assurances from the airline that only two passengers were slightly wounded, The Aviation Herald is reporting that three passengers were taken to the hospital following the emergency. Passengers on the flight have also given accounts of several passengers being severely burned and at least one passenger being “blown out of the aircraft.”

Photographs taken after the plane landed show evidence of a fire and a large hole near the aircraft’s wing. Airline and government officials are being tight-lipped about the unfolding story, but investigators are said to be focusing on an oxygen bottle that they believe may have exploded as a result of an onboard fire.

Citing images that show a gaping hole in the side of the aircraft, however, the Daily Mail reports that there is mounting suspicion that the terrifying mid-air incident may have been the result of an explosive device on the plane. The concerns over the possibility that the events may be related to terrorism come as local media sources are reporting eyewitness accounts of a charred body falling from a plane near the airport at the time of the explosion.

[Photo: Harun Maruf/Twitter]