Plane makes emergency landing in Mogadishu after ‘explosion’ in mid-flight

In what is likely a flier’s worst nightmare, a passenger flight made an emergency landing at Mogadishu airport on Tuesday after an explosion soon after taking off from the Somali capital, Horseed Media reports.

The commuter jet owned by the Daallo airlines was Djibouti-bound when a loud bang was heard followed by flames that lit up one side of the plane, sources say.

Images taken after the plane landed in the Aden Abdulle International airport shows a massive damage on the right side of the plane close to the engine.

According to airport officials, all the people on board, including passengers and plane’s crew, remained safe in the incident. But three of the passengers sustained injuries.

Reports from Mogadishu say that officials from the National Intelligence and Security Agency have launched an investigation on the cause of the explosion.

Privately-owned Daallo airlines is one of the small east African operators linking the Horn of Africa nation to neighbouring countries since the overthrow of the Central government in 1991.