NAIROBI, Kenya May 5 – Kenya and Somalia have agreed to conduct a joint investigation on the downing of a Kenyan cargo plane in Bardale region of Baidoa on Monday.
Six people including the pilot were killed when the aircraft was shot down, officials said.
After Kenya wrote to Somalia through the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Somalia’s President Mohammed Farmajo telephoned President Uhuru Kenyatta, assuring him that he was equally concerned, and they both agreed on a joint investigation.
“President Farmajo has made a call to President Kenyatta to express his regret and convey condolences for the loss life and property as a result of the aircraft crash incident involving a Kenyan private cargo aircraft,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement to newsrooms.
It said that Farmajo had assured president Kenyatta that he instructed the civil aviation authorities in his country to immediately mount an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the crash of the aircraft which was supporting humanitarian operations in Somalia.
He invited the Kenya civil aviation team to join hands with their Somalia counterparts to expeditiously probe the incident.
The aircraft is reported to have left the capital Mogadishu and briefly stopped in the city of Baidoa before continuing to the town of Bardale, in the southern Bay region, where it crashed near the airport.
It is believed that it was shot down.
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