It was a flight that should have ended in tragedy. Instead, 55 passengers and crew are alive today after their Fokker 50 aircraft skidded off the runway at Mogadishu’s Aden Adde International Airport and plunged into the Indian Ocean.

The images are surreal: a commercial airliner resting in the shallow turquoise waters, its fuselage battered but intact, with passengers wading through knee-deep waves to safety. The Starsky Aviation flight had just taken off when it developed a technical fault, forcing a terrifying emergency return. For the people on board, the minutes between the pilot’s warning and the impact were a blur of prayer and panic.

"We Read the Quran"

Mohamed Hussein Odowa, a 70-year-old passenger, recounted the ordeal with the clarity of someone who has stared death in the face. "As the engines started to sputter, terrified passengers began reading the Quran," he told reporters. The landing was violent; the plane hit the runway but could not stop, its brakes seemingly useless against the momentum. It careened past the tarmac, smashed a wing against a barrier, and finally splashed into the sea.

"The plane stopped in the ocean... and the two doors got opened," Odowa said. In that moment of silence before the evacuation, the realization of survival washed over them. The pilot, whose quick thinking to ditch in the shallow water likely saved dozens of lives, is being hailed as a hero.

• The Aircraft: A Fokker 50 operated by Starsky Aviation.
• The Incident: Technical failure on takeoff, runway excursion on landing.
• The Outcome: All 55 souls on board survived with minor injuries.

A History of Near Misses

Aden Adde Airport, with its runway ending at the sea, is unforgiving. This incident adds to a list of aviation mishaps in the region, raising questions about the maintenance of aging fleets operating in difficult environments. Yet, today is not a day for recriminations but for relief. In an industry where margins for error are measured in millimeters, this was a miracle measured in meters.

The Walk to Safety

Video footage circulating on social media shows the aftermath: stunned passengers clutching their bags, helping each other through the surf. It is a testament to human resilience. They boarded a plane to travel, but they walked out of the ocean having been given a second chance at life.

"God was the co-pilot today," a survivor remarked.