A Ugandan military helicopter carrying eight passengers crashed and caught fire at Somalia’s largest international airport, Mogadishu, according to a Ugandan army spokeswoman.
Three individuals survived with burns, while the other five were “yet to be accounted for” after the crash at Aden Adde International Airport, Maj Gen Felix Kulaigye said, adding that the cause remained unknown.
“We heard the blast and saw smoke and flames over a helicopter. The smoke entirely covered the helicopter,” Farah Abdulle, one of the airport staff, told the Reuters news agency.
According to Somalia’s state-run news agency, emergency personnel rapidly extinguished the fire.
Ugandan forces are part of an 11,000-strong African Union (AU) force assisting the government in combating the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group, which has waged a violent insurgency in Somalia for more than 20 years.
Ahmed Maalim, the head of the Somali Civil Aviation Authority, told the BBC that the helicopter crashed in the airport’s military area after flying in from the Balidogle airfield in the Lower Shabelle region, around 90 kilometres (56 miles) northwest of Mogadishu.
The AU mission in Somalia stated in a statement that the three survivors had been brought to a hospital for treatment and that attempts were underway to “retrieve the remaining crew and passengers”.
Both AU and Somali officials stated an inquiry was underway to determine the reason for the incident.
It caused a delay in the departure of a Turkish Airlines passenger plane, although domestic flights continued to run smoothly.
