Pilot, officials recount mid-air jet explosion

The Aircraft landed safely and all of our passengers were evacuated safely. A thorough investigation is being conducted by Somalia Civil Aviation Authority.

— said a statement from Daallo Airlines.

When we heard a loud bang, the co-pilot went back to the cabin to inspect the damage and I took over the commands as the procedure demands.

— the pilot said the engines and hydraulics functioned normally so he had no problem flying the aircraft back to Mogadishu.

Smoke came into the cockpit, but it was mostly concentrated in the back of the aircraft.

— said Serbian pilot Vlatko Vodopivec, who was flying at 11,000 feet having just left Mogadishu airport in Somalia when there was a loud bang from the rear of the Airbus 321 jetliner, which was carrying 74 passengers and crew.

It happened at about 11,000 feet. It was my first bomb; I hope it will be the last.

— said Vodopivec. However, civil aviation authority officials said Wednesday they had found no evidence so far of a criminal act in Tuesday’s blast.

(I) heard a loud noise and couldn’t see anything but smoke for a few seconds.

— said Awale Kullane, Somalia’s deputy ambassador to the UN who was on board the flight. When visibility returned he realized “quite a chunk” of the plane was missing, he wrote on Facebook. A video recorded on his cellphone shows passengers, some wearing oxygen masks, before it swivels to a hole in the side of the cabin.

We were told one person was sucked out of the plane, but that is still not confirmed.

— said the pilot. The body of a man was later found on the ground and is presumed to have come from the plane.