How Donkeys Caused the Crash of a Kenyan Plane in Somalia

Donkeys have been blamed for last week’s plane crash in Somalia involving a Kenyan-registered plane.

The Sh500 million De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 PF aircraft owned by Blue Bird Aviation company crashed while landing at Beledweyne Airport on July 14th.

It had been hired by the UN to ferry food aid and other supplies to Beledwyene in central Somalia from Djibouti.

Daily Nation reports that initial investigations by the Somali Civil Aviation Authority revealed that the aircraft crashed and caught fire after the pilot swerved to avoid hitting donkeys on the runway.

The drove of donkeys was reportedly grazing on shrubs near the runway when it got frightened by the landing aircraft and run towards its path. The plane veered off the runway, crashed into heaps of sand on the flight strip, and caught fire.

All three occupants of the plane including captain Farah Ahmed, first officer Shukri Farah and one passenger escaped unscathed and were flown back to Nairobi. Air crash investigators from Kenya were sent to Somalia to investigate the incident. 

“The black box and other recorders were retrieved from the wreckage and will be flown to Nairobi for processing during investigations,” Maj-Gen (Rtd) Lucas Tumbo, Kenya’s Ambassador to Somalia, told Daily Nation.