What happened
On February 2, 2016, an Airbus A321, registered SX-BHS, operated by Daallo Airlines, was performing a scheduled international passenger flight from Mogadishu, Somalia, to Djibouti. The flight was in its initial climb phase, passing approximately 10,400 ft, when a loud explosion occurred inside the cabin.
Immediately following the blast, the aircraft experienced a rapid decompression. The flight crew, consisting of a captain and a first officer, responded by taking manual control, initiating a descent, and performing a left turn. The crew followed standard operating procedures for depressurization, including managing cabin pressure warnings and monitoring the aircraft's descent. After the event, the crew requested an emergency return to Mogadishu and successfully landed the aircraft safely 12 minutes after the explosion.
Tragically, the force of the explosion caused a section of the fuselage to fail. A passenger seated at 16F was ejected from the aircraft and was found deceased near the airport. Three other passengers seated in the vicinity of the breach sustained injuries, while the remaining 70 passengers and the 7 crew members were uninjured.
The investigation
The investigation, conducted by the Somali Aircraft Accident Investigation Authority with assistance from the French BEA, focused on the structural integrity of the fuselage and the origin of the blast. Investigators examined the wreckage, specifically the right-hand side of the fuselage near frame 35.8.
Analysis of the airframe revealed a perforation of approximately one square meter in the fuselage skin. The damage pattern—characterized by skin separation from stringers and frames with outward deformation—was consistent with a dynamic internal overpressure event. Investigators also noted that the deployment of several cabin oxygen masks was likely a secondary result of this internal pressure spike rather than an automatic deployment triggered by altitude.
Findings
- The primary cause of the accident was a terrorist attack involving a blast device concealed within a laptop carried by a passenger.
- The explosion created a dynamic internal overpressure that perforated the fuselage skin.
- The structural failure of the fuselage allowed for the ejection of a passenger, leading to one fatality.
- The flight crew demonstrated professional cockpit resource management (CRM), which was instrumental in the safe emergency landing.
- The passenger was able to bypass airport security controls with the explosive device.