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The Kenyan-registered plane belonged to African Express Airways crashed in the town of Bardale on Monday, killing all six crew on board.
It was carrying medical supplies for use in the fight against the coronavirus, according to the Somali transport minister, who did not give a reason for the accident.
“The Government of the Republic of Kenya urges the Federal Government of Somalia and International Agencies to thoroughly and swiftly investigate the matter because it impacts humanitarian operations at a time of highest need,” Kenya’s foreign affairs ministry said in a statement Tuesday.
A second statement said Somalia’s president Mohamed Abdullahi - also known as Farmajo - had ordered Somalia’s civil aviation authorities to work jointly with Kenya on their probe.
Plane ‘shot down’
Former Somali Defense Minister Abdirashid Abdullahi Mohamed told Reuters newswire that he had spoken to an eyewitness who was at the airfield.
Mohamed said the eyewitness watched the plane attempt to land, but went around again and appeared to be shot on one wing as it was trying to land again.
Mohamed also provided Reuters with a photo of the plane in flames with its tail still intact, along with the passenger list with six names. These could not be immediately verified.
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The Kenya papers reported that two of the dead were Kenyan nationals.
The pilot, copilot, flight engineer, trainee pilot and two people working for the Kenya based airline, African Express, were onboard, Somalia’s Transport Minister Mohamed Salad told Reuters. He said five bodies had been recovered so far.
“An African (Express) Airways plane from Mogadishu flew to Baidoa and then continued its flight to Bardale town where it crashed,” according to State-run Somalia News Agency on its website.
Bardale, in the southern Bay region, is secure, with Somali and Ethiopian troop reinforcements but the al-Shabaab Islamist insurgent group is active in the area.
