Sabena Plane Under Attack

Dec 5, 2000

An Airbus A300 passenger jet, belonging to Belgian airline Sabena, came under attack from gunfire as it landed at Bujumbura, capital of the African state of Burundi, early Tuesday.

Reports say two people were slightly injured. The plane, with 150 passengers on board, is believed to have been fired on by a rebel group using automatic weapons.

The aircraft, which was on a scheduled flight to Nairobi, remained on the airport runway for several hours after landing safely.

Sabena confirmed that there had been an incident involving one of its planes and said the jet would not be continuing the flight to its destination in Kenya.

Rebels are known to be active in the region where Bujumbura airport is located. Fighting has been going on between tribal groups in Burundi for the last seven years.

http://news.airwise.com/stories/2000/12/976013578.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), December 05, 2000