As the plane approached the murram runway of the local airstrip in Somalia, it encountered the animals, which interrupted the landing order. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP A Sh500 million Kenyan plane crashed in Somalia after rogue donkeys got onto the runaway during landing.
Preliminary reports from the Somali Civil Aviation Authority indicate a number of the beasts were grazing on shrubs close to the runway when they got frightened by the landing aircraft and dashed towards the flight path.
The plane took an unusual attitude and swerved off the runaway before crashing into heaps of sand on the flight strip.
The crash happened last week and air crash investigators flew to Somalia to investigate what transpired.
After the Somalia incident, the pilot, captain Farah Ahmed and first officer Shukri Farah, both Kenyans, were flown back to Nairobi.
The captain, first officer and another passenger did not sustain any injuries during the incident.
The plane, registered in Kenya as 5Y-VVU and operated by Blue Bird Aviation had been contracted by the UN to deliver foodstuff and other humanitarian supplies to Beledwyene in central Somalia.
“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 the Nation.
Officials said the plane, a Fokker, had flown in with the goods from Djibouti.
But as it approached the murram runway of the local airstrip in Somalia, it encountered the animals, which interrupted the landing order.
The 28-year-old Blue Bird Aviation has a fleet of more than 21 planes, making it the second-largest carrier ahead of national carrier Kenya Airways.
