Man sucked out of jet after midair explosion

“Somalia’s Deputy Prime Minister Mohamed Omar Arte indicated that as soon as the investigation is concluded, he promised the government will step up airport security against any potential threat”, a spokesperson from Somlia’s Office of the Prime Minister said in a statement Thursday.

Ali Mohamoud is an official with the Somali aviation authorities and he stated all of the 74 passengers and crewmembers on the flight had been accounted for.

One man on the Somali-owned Daallo Airlines plane was killed, officials said.

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Daallo Airlines, the national carrier of the Horn of Africa country of Djibouti, said on its website: “Pilots managed to land the aircraft back (in) Mogadishu Airport safely and without any further incident”.

“We saw a hole in the plane and the first thing you worry about is can we really make it?” he said. There are only two things that could have caused a hole in the plane that looks like the one in photos circulated online – a bomb or a pressurization blowout caused by a flaw or fatigue in the plane’s skin, said Goglia.

The man’s badly burned body has reportedly been found about 15 miles away from Mogadishu airport.

On the same day of the incident, Somali government and Daallo airlines officials strongly claimed that it was the oxygen tank that exploded and ruled out the possibility of a bomb explosion.

Authorities found a body of a 55-year-old man close to Mogadishu that is most likely the man from the plane, and, according to the Wall Street Journal, might be the suicide bomber responsible for the explosion.

“Luckily, the flight controls were not damaged so I could return and land at the airport”, said pilot Vladimir Vodopivec, who was quoted by Belgrade daily Blic.

Yassin said he didn’t have information about a passenger boarding in a wheelchair but said all scenarios were being examined.

Passengers of the flight captured the chaos in the cabin after the explosion happened and the footage has since been posted to Youtube. We lost pressure in the cabin.

Harrowing footage of the aftermath of the explosion aboard the flight can be seen here.

When visibility returned they realised “quite a chunk” of the plane was missing.