Somali officials start investigating blast on board plane

In this Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016 photo, a hole is photographed in a plane operated by Daallo Airlines as it sits on the runway of the airport in Mogadishu, Somalia. A gaping hole in the commercial airliner forced it to make an emergency landing at Mogadishu’s international airport late Tuesday, officials and witnesses said. (AP Photo)

Associated Press

Feb. 3, 2016, at 5:16 a.m.
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MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Officials at Somalia’s civil aviation authority say they have found no evidence so far of a criminal act in an explosion in an airliner which took off from Mogadishu’s airport and returned for an emergency landing.
The Somali government says an investigation is underway.
Ali Mohamoud, an aviation official at the Mogadishu airport, said that investigators moved the plane from the runway to a private hangar. He said that foreign technical experts were involved in the inquiry.
Two passengers on board the flight said they heard a loud bang, suggesting an explosion that left a hole in the fuselage.
The plane, operated by Dubai-based Daallo Airlines and headed to Djibouti, was forced to land minutes after taking off from the airport Tuesday.
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