A Turkish Airlines flight en route to land in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, has reportedly been forced to divert after a helicopter crashed on the runway. The diversion was made for the safety of passengers on board.

A Ugandan military helicopter has crashed near Somalia’s main international airport, Aden Adde International Airport, with eight people on board. A loud explosion caused by the aircraft was heard across the capital, according to reports on X (formerly Twitter). Video footage show plumes of smoke rising from the airport. The Turkish Airlines flight was reportedly forced to divert to Nairobi for the safety of passengers on board.

According to the state-run news agency, a fire broke out after the helicopter crashed at the airport, but was quickly contained by emergency services.

“We heard the blast and saw smoke and flames over a helicopter. The smoke entirely covered the helicopter,” Farah Abdulle, one of the airport staff, told Reuters news agency.

The cause of the crash and the number of casualties are unclear.

The head of the Somali Civil Aviation Authority, Ahmed Maalim, told the BBC that the helicopter had come down in the airport’s military section after flying in from the Balidogle airbase in the Lower Shabelle region. He said that an investigation was under way to establish the cause of the crash.

Ugandan troops are part of an African Union (AU) force helping the Government fight the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group, which has been waging a brutal insurgency in Somalia.