A cargo plane carrying supplies to a flood relief mission crashed while landing at Beledweyne airport, in central Somalia.
The de Havilland Canada DHC-8-400 freighter 5Y-VVU, operated by Blue Bird Aviation, was arriving from Djibouti Airport (JIB) carrying supplies for the soldiers of the African Union aiding flood victims of the Hiran region in Somalia.
All three crew members were rescued before the plane caught fire, according to Colonel Abdillahi Muse, commander of Djiboutian forces in the Hiran region. No other damage or injuries were reported. The reason for the crash is unclear as of yet, but the aircraft might have suffered a gear collapse upon landing. Local media Kenyans.co.ke reports that the presence of a donkey on the runway could have caused the incident.
Kenyan DHC-8 Dash 8 on ops for UN crashed and burned n landing at Beledweyne Airfield, Somalia. The aircraft was on a cargo flight. No information about casualties yet.https://t.co/ohks5OtCbi pic.twitter.com/7UgfZZbxyo
— JACDEC (@JacdecNew) July 14, 2020
Humanitarian flights in Somalia have been regularly targeted in the past months. On May 4, 2020, an Embraer EMB-120RT registered 5YAXO transporting medical supplies to fight the coronavirus pandemic to Baidoa Airport, in the southern Bay region was brought down by a surface-to-air missile mistakenly fired by the Ethiopian army. All six people on board were killed.
Weeks later, on May 25, 2020, an Aeronav Air Let L-410 carrying medical supplies to help with the COVID-19 coronavirus relief effort was targeted by unknown gunfire as it was on approach to Qansax Dheere, also in the Bay region. The aircraft managed to land and no injuries were reported.