KENYA AIRWAYS FLIGHT TO CAIRO MAKES EMERGENCY LANDING IN KHARTOUM
Information is starting to come to light about an emergency return of a Kenya Airways B737-700 aircraft, which was enroute to Egypt’s capital Cairo after a scheduled stop enroute in Khartoum.
Flight KQ 320 left Nairobi at 17.20 hrs and after about 3 hours landed in Khartoum, disembarking Sudan bound passengers before taking off for Cairo.
Details at hand, though still sketchy as such matter are being handled in Sudan like a state secret, indicate that after take of the aircraft suffered an engine failure and had to return to Khartoum within half an hour of taking off.
Some reports speak of a fire in the engine which however appears to have been extinguished using the available fire suppression system in the engine.
A team of engineers from Kenya Airways’ Nairobi base maintenance base are reportedly being dispatched to assess the damage and initiate repairs to return the aircraft to Nairobi.
A source in Nairobi would not immediately confirm or deny the situation, asking for a statement to be prepared, indicative that indeed a technical situation arose on the flight.
The aircraft according the one source in South Sudan’s capital of Juba, who is well acquainted with all matters aviation, said no injuries had been recorded in Khartoum though some passengers were in an emotionally agitated state. The Kenya Airways station in Khartoum reportedly arranged for immediate transfer of the passengers to hotels in the city until a replacement aircraft can take them to Cairo. Watch this space for the upcoming statement.
