July 02, (THEWILL) — A Ugandan military helicopter deployed with the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia crashed at Mogadishu airport on Wednesday.
Ugandan military spokesperson, Felix Kulayigye, said three of the helicopter’s eight occupants survived the incident.
The African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), in a statement, said that “search and rescue operations are currently underway to retrieve the remaining crew and passengers.”
“The helicopter crash-landed at Mogadishu’s international airport just before touching down”, AUSSOM said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Somalia’s state-run SONNA news outlet reported that the helicopter was engulfed in flames after crashing.
Farah Abdulle, a staff member at the airport, said, “We heard the blast and saw smoke and flames over a helicopter. The smoke entirely covered the helicopter.”
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