All passengers survived a plane crash at the Somali capital's airport
A passenger plane veered off the runway during landing at Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, on Tuesday, but miraculously, no lives were lost. The Somali Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that all passengers and crew members on board survived.
In detailing the incident, the Director of the Somali Civil Aviation Authority, Ahmed Moalim Hassan, explained in a statement to the official Somali News Agency (SONNA) that the aircraft experienced a sudden technical malfunction shortly after takeoff. He added that the pilot decided to return immediately to the airport as a precautionary measure, but was unable to fully control the aircraft during landing, causing it to veer off the runway and come to a stop in a nearby dirt area. The aircraft was on a domestic flight bound for Galkayo in the Galmudug region.
Context of aviation accidents in Somalia
This incident comes amid Somalia's ongoing efforts to rebuild its civil aviation sector, which has been severely damaged by decades of civil war and instability. Aden Adde International Airport is a vital artery for the country and has undergone extensive development and modernization in recent years with support from international partners, most notably Turkey, to bring its services and infrastructure up to international standards.
Despite this progress, the domestic aviation sector still faces significant challenges, most notably the aging fleet of aircraft operating on domestic routes and the ongoing need to strengthen maintenance and safety standards. While limited, aviation accidents highlight the difficulties the country faces in establishing a safe and reliable air transport infrastructure, which many Somalis rely on to travel between cities as an alternative to the perilous and often dangerous road routes.
The importance of the incident and its potential impact
Domestically, the incident has reignited the debate surrounding safety standards at local airlines. While the fact that all passengers survived is a testament to the improved capabilities of the airport's emergency and rescue teams, the recurrence of such incidents could erode public confidence in domestic air travel. Somali authorities are expected to launch a thorough investigation to determine the precise cause of the technical malfunction and assign responsibility to ensure it does not happen again.
Internationally, such news puts Somalia's aviation sector under intense scrutiny. Having regained full control of its airspace in 2017 after years of UN management, Somalia is striving to demonstrate its ability to operate its airspace and airports efficiently and safely. This incident serves as a reminder that there is still a long way to go and that continued investment in training, fleet modernization, and stricter oversight of maintenance and air safety procedures is urgently needed.
