2007 TransAVIAexport Airlines Ilyushin Il-76 crash

On 23 March 2007, a Belarusian Ilyushin Il-76 cargo aircraft operated by TransAVIAexport Airlines crashed in the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia, during the Battle of Mogadishu, killing all 11 crewmembers aboard. The plane was carrying equipment for African Union troops in Somalia.

The BBC reported that the aircraft had been shot down.

Crash

EW-78849 was due to fly back to Belarus carrying equipment used for the repairs of EW-78826. The flight plan included a refuelling stop at Djibouti. Bound for Minsk, the aircraft had taken off from Mogadishu International Airport at 14:00 local time. According to Somali Interior Minister Mohamed Mahamud Guled, as soon as it reached 10000 ft 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 crash 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.