Cargo plane crashes at airport in Somalia’s capital, 3 hurt

MOGADISHU, Somalia – A cargo plane crashed Saturday morning at the international airport in Somalia’s capital, and the country’s transport minister said three of the four crew members on board were injured.

Photos from the scene showed the plane’s cockpit crushed against a concrete barrier just steps from the sea.

Transport Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Salad told reporters that the plane had just taken off for Beledweyne town in central Somalia but returned to the airport after having mechanical problems.

Markings on the plane indicated that it is operated by Silverstone Air in neighbouring Kenya. The company could not be reached.

The heavily fortified Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu is home to diplomatic missions and is a hub for humanitarian flights in the Horn of Africa nation trying to rebuild from three decades of conflict.

Somalia has seen at least two other such plane crashes this year. In July, a cargo plane carrying humanitarian aid crashed in Beledweyne in central Somalia. And in May, six people were killed when a Kenyan plane with African Express carrying medical supplies crashed on approach to Bardale in the Bay region.