2007 Mogadishu TransAVIAexport Airlines Il-76 crash
Encyclopedia
On March 23, 2007, a TransAVIAexport Airlines Ilyushin
Il-76
aircraft crashed on the outskirts of Mogadishu
, Somalia
, during the 2007 Battle of Mogadishu. The plane was carrying repair equipment and humanitarian aid
. According to a spokesperson for the transport ministry of Belarus
, the aircraft was shot down. However, the Somali government insisted that the crash was accidental. All the people on board died in the crash.
n AMISOM peacekeepers in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. All of the crew members were Belarus
ian.
. Somali officials claimed both aircraft incidents occurred due to technical failures rather than armed attacks. Much of the equipment on board Il-76 EW-78849 was for repairing the aircraft damaged earlier; the rest of the cargo was humanitarian aid. The first aircraft was still crippled at the departure time of the second Il-76, EW-78849, and TransAVIAexport were considering whether to cannibalise it for re-usable parts.
There has been a report of unverified claims circulating on the Internet that this first aircraft had in fact been carrying a secret load of infantry fighting vehicle
s for Ugandan troops. This report also claims that the infantry fighting vehicles saved the crew.
from Mogadishu International Airport
. According to Somali Interior Minister Mohamed Mahamud Guled, the plane took off at around five o'clock, and as soon as it reached 10000 feet (3,048 m) altitude, the pilot reported a problem in engine number two, stating that he would turn back to the airport. He was in the process of attempting to return to the airport for an emergency landing when one wing exploded, separated from the aircraft and fell into the Indian Ocean
, while the rest of the plane continued, on fire, along the beach at a low altitude before crashing.
The accident occurred in an area called Kuluweyne, with the main part of the wreckage landing near a farmer's hamlet. A Reuters
reporter who visited the scene reported seeing crushed animals, four corpses still on the ground, and wreckage spread across an area the size of four football fields. Rescuers found ten of the crew members dead at the scene, and an eleventh alive and wandering around the crash site. He was transported to a hospital where he died the same day. Operations at the airport were not affected by the crash, with Somali Prime Minister
Ali Gedi and his delegation departing as scheduled from the airport the next day, destined for the Arab League
summit in Saudi Arabia
.
being fired immediately before the accident. "I saw with my eyes when the plane, which was flying low-level, was hit by a rocket and then fell to the ground," Shabelle reporter Maryan Hashi said." There have been reports that the projectile came from a small boat, and others that it came from a nearby farmers' market. The plane appears to have been struck by the missile at an altitude of about 500 feet (150 m).
On April 2, 2007, funeral services were held in Belarus for the victims, with hundreds attending. Eight of the victims were buried in a single lot at Maskouskiya cemetery, the rest in Vitsebsk.
An investigation has been launched by the Belarusian transport prosecutor’s office for violations of Article 126 of the Criminal Code, which concerns international terrorism.
Ilyushin
Open Joint Stock Company «Ilyushin Aviation Complex» , operating as Ilyushin or Ilyushin Design Bureau, is a Russian design bureau and aircraft manufacturer, founded by Sergey Vladimirovich Ilyushin. Ilyushin was established under the Soviet Union. Its operations began on January 13, 1933, by...
Il-76
Ilyushin Il-76
The Ilyushin Il-76 is a multi-purpose four-engined strategic airlifter designed by Ilyushin design bureau. It was first planned as a commercial freighter in 1967. Intended as a replacement for the Antonov An-12, the Il-76 was designed for delivering heavy machinery to remote, poorly-serviced areas...
aircraft crashed on the outskirts of Mogadishu
Mogadishu
Mogadishu , popularly known as Xamar, is the largest city in Somalia and the nation's capital. Located in the coastal Benadir region on the Indian Ocean, the city has served as an important port for centuries....
, Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
, during the 2007 Battle of Mogadishu. The plane was carrying repair equipment and humanitarian aid
Humanitarian aid
Humanitarian aid is material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarian purposes, typically in response to humanitarian crises including natural disaster and man-made disaster. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity...
. According to a spokesperson for the transport ministry of Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
, the aircraft was shot down. However, the Somali government insisted that the crash was accidental. All the people on board died in the crash.
Flight overview
The aircraft involved was an Ilyushin Il-76, a large Russian-built cargo aircraft. Registered as EW-78849, the Il-76 had been on a chartered cargo flight carrying equipment to UgandaUganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
n AMISOM peacekeepers in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. All of the crew members were Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
ian.
Previous shootdown attempt
Four of the personnel on board the accident aircraft were engineers who had worked on repairing another Il-76 that had been the subject of an attempted shootdown 14 days earlier. In that incident, an Il-76 that was carrying Ugandan peacekeepers made a successful emergency landing, after having been struck by a rocket propelled grenadeRocket propelled grenade
A rocket-propelled grenade is a shoulder-fired, anti-tank weapon system which fires rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. These warheads are affixed to a rocket motor and stabilized in flight with fins. Some types of RPG are reloadable while others are single-use. RPGs, with the exception of...
. Somali officials claimed both aircraft incidents occurred due to technical failures rather than armed attacks. Much of the equipment on board Il-76 EW-78849 was for repairing the aircraft damaged earlier; the rest of the cargo was humanitarian aid. The first aircraft was still crippled at the departure time of the second Il-76, EW-78849, and TransAVIAexport were considering whether to cannibalise it for re-usable parts.
There has been a report of unverified claims circulating on the Internet that this first aircraft had in fact been carrying a secret load of infantry fighting vehicle
Infantry fighting vehicle
An infantry fighting vehicle , also known as a mechanized infantry combat vehicle , is a type of armoured fighting vehicle used to carry infantry into battle and provide fire support for them...
s for Ugandan troops. This report also claims that the infantry fighting vehicles saved the crew.
Crash
The aircraft had just taken offTakeoff
Takeoff is the phase of flight in which an aerospace vehicle goes from the ground to flying in the air.For horizontal takeoff aircraft this usually involves starting with a transition from moving along the ground on a runway. For balloons, helicopters and some specialized fixed-wing aircraft , no...
from Mogadishu International Airport
Mogadishu International Airport
Aden Adde International Airport , formerly known as Mogadishu International Airport, is the international airport for Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. It is named after Aden Abdullah Osman Daar, the first President of Somalia....
. According to Somali Interior Minister Mohamed Mahamud Guled, the plane took off at around five o'clock, and as soon as it reached 10000 feet (3,048 m) altitude, the pilot reported a problem in engine number two, stating that he would turn back to the airport. He was in the process of attempting to return to the airport for an emergency landing when one wing exploded, separated from the aircraft and fell into the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
, while the rest of the plane continued, on fire, along the beach at a low altitude before crashing.
The accident occurred in an area called Kuluweyne, with the main part of the wreckage landing near a farmer's hamlet. A Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
reporter who visited the scene reported seeing crushed animals, four corpses still on the ground, and wreckage spread across an area the size of four football fields. Rescuers found ten of the crew members dead at the scene, and an eleventh alive and wandering around the crash site. He was transported to a hospital where he died the same day. Operations at the airport were not affected by the crash, with Somali Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Somalia
This page contains a list of the Prime Ministers of Somalia.-Prime Ministers of Somalia :-Affiliations:*SYL - Somali Youth League*SNL - Somali National League...
Ali Gedi and his delegation departing as scheduled from the airport the next day, destined for the Arab League
Arab League
The Arab League , officially called the League of Arab States , is a regional organisation of Arab states in North and Northeast Africa, and Southwest Asia . It was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945 with six members: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan , Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Yemen joined as a...
summit in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
.
Alleged shootdown
A civilian who witnessed the crash said he heard what he believed to be a surface-to-air missileSurface-to-air missile
A surface-to-air missile or ground-to-air missile is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles...
being fired immediately before the accident. "I saw with my eyes when the plane, which was flying low-level, was hit by a rocket and then fell to the ground," Shabelle reporter Maryan Hashi said." There have been reports that the projectile came from a small boat, and others that it came from a nearby farmers' market. The plane appears to have been struck by the missile at an altitude of about 500 feet (150 m).
Deceased
Crew members who were killed:- Igor Leonidovich Vashkevich – Commander of the air squadron
- Aleksandr Viktorovich Gomanykov – Co-pilot
- Gennady Aleksandrovich Trashkov – Navigator
- Ivan Ivanovich Gab – Onboard engineer
- Oleg Viktorovich Kanunnikov – Radio operator
- Aleksandr Ivanovich Zernin – Senior load attendant
- Igor Mikhailovich Gres – Load attendant
- Oleg Yevgeniushovich Bondaronok – Aircraft technician
- Mikhail Ivanovich Baglov – Aircraft engineer
- Dmitry Sergeevich Nosnikov – Aircraft technician
- Artem Borisovich Sychugov – Aircraft technician
Reactions and aftermath
The Somali authorities originally stated that the cause of the crash was unknown, and have since maintained that the crash occurred as a result of an accident, and that it had not been shot down. However, while not claiming responsibility for this specific attack, an Islamist web site published claims that the plane was indeed struck by a missile. Within 24 hours of the crash, Belarusian officials confirmed that the plane had been shot down. Somali soldiers began to guard the area against interference. TransAVIAexport suspended all flights to Somalia as a result of the incident, and Belarus advised its airlines not to enter Somalian airspace.On April 2, 2007, funeral services were held in Belarus for the victims, with hundreds attending. Eight of the victims were buried in a single lot at Maskouskiya cemetery, the rest in Vitsebsk.
An investigation has been launched by the Belarusian transport prosecutor’s office for violations of Article 126 of the Criminal Code, which concerns international terrorism.
External links
- Shabelle.net image gallery of crash site Caution: this link contains graphic images
- Pre-accident images of the aircraft
- charter97.org Article with images from the funeral services