Kenya investigating device behind Air France flight emergency landing

Dec 22, 2015 Kenyan authorities recently released a statement into the investigation of a suspected device found onboard an Air France flight from Mauritius that made an emergency landing at Kenya’s port city of Mombasa.

According to Kenya’s interior minister, Joseph Nkaissery, the Boeing 777 aircraft, en route to Paris with 459 passengers and 14 crew, was safely evacuated after it landed.

He went on to reveal that Kenyan authorities were working with their French and Mauritian counterparts to determine the nature of the device.

“Very early in the morning today, the airport received a distress call from Air France plane coming from Mauritius. That request was swiftly granted. The security organs of security committee of Mombasa swiftly moved, organised themselves, to the reception of the aircraft. The aircraft landed. All the passengers were safely evacuated and they have now been distributed to various hotels within Mombasa,”

Air France also released a statement saying it was working on re-routing its passengers while making plans for another plane to Mombasa to fly them to Paris.

On this backdrop, the Kenyan interior minister moved to pacify the general public on the safety of the country’s airspace.

“I want to assure Kenyans that all our airports are secured, the aircraft which caused this scare had begun its flight from Mauritius and it was heading for Paris and so I am made to understand that Air France has dispatched another airline, aircraft, to come and pick the passengers. But in the meantime, investigations are continuing.”