A Kenyan-registered aircraft 5Y-AXO crashed on Monday in Bardere area in Somalia just before landing at the airport.
The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) in a statement signed by Director General Captain Gilbert Kibe on Tuesday said that the African Express-owned aircraft had been operating in Somalia since March 2, 2020.
KCAA, however, is yet to confirm the circumstances which led to the crashing of the aircraft which had six people at the time. Two of them were Kenyans.
The plane left Mogadishu on May 4, 2020, with medical supplies for Baidoa where it landed at 1:10 pm.
It is when it was heading for Berdale around 4 pm that it crashed.
“The aircraft then departed Baidoa for Berdale landing at 4 pm and later departing for Bardere. The firm’s operations officer confirms having lost contact with aircraft at approximately 4.20 pm,” Kibe said.
Somali’s Civil Aviation Authority in a statement stated that it has commenced investigations to unravel what may have led to the crash.
The aircraft according to Somali Transport Ministry “was manufactured by Embraer with serial number 259, from production line on July 27, 1983.”
It has a powerful twin-engine Pratt &Whitney PW118.
According to Somalia-based journalist Harun Maruf, all the passengers on the plane at the time of the accident perished.
