The helicopter was en route from the Baledogle military airbase when the incident occurred around 7:30 a.m.

In a statement, the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) confirmed that search and rescue operations are currently underway to retrieve the remaining crew and passengers.

Three of the eight individuals on board were rescued and rushed to the AUSSOM Level II hospital in Mogadishu for treatment.

It remains unclear how many crew members and passengers are still unaccounted for.

Thick smoke rose into the sky shortly after the crash.

An African Union helicopter operated by the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) crash-landed early Wednesday morning near Aden Abdulle International Airport in Mogadishu, shortly before landing.

The helicopter was en route from the Baledogle military airbase when the incident… pic.twitter.com/VtNARZD5u7

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The impact caused a fire on the tarmac and partially closed the airport runway, according to Ahmed Hassan Moalim, Director of the Somali Civil Aviation Authority.

“Some flights were diverted. We still do not know what caused the crash. There were eight individuals on the crashed helicopter,” Moalim said.

One of the affected flights was a Turkish Airlines aircraft, which was on approach to Mogadishu but had to be diverted to Nairobi, airport officials confirmed.

While AUSSOM acknowledged that the helicopter departed from Baledogle, it did not disclose the cause of the crash.

Aviation authorities have launched an investigation.

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