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KQ plane makes emergency landing after developing mechanical problem


A Kenya Airways plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Tuesday after it developed mechanical problems midair.

The plane, from OR Tambo International Airport heading to Nairobi, was about to exit the South African airspace when the pilot decided to return to the airport.

A passenger in the plane, the chief executive of the Kenya Film Classification Board, Ezekiel Mutua, said the plane had developed problems during takeoff.

“We took off from OR Tambo at noon  Tuesday and we suspected a problem on take-off but somehow we successfully settled in the skies and we’re about to exit the South African airspace towards Zimbabwe when the Captain announced a transponder failure and said we were returning to Jo’burg,” Mr Mutua wrote on his Facebook page.

The plane was grounded for around two hours at the airports as engineers fixed the mechanical problem. It then successfully made the four-hour flight to Kenyan airspace.

 

But troubles persisted. Instead of landing at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport JKIA, passengers were rerouted to Moi International Airport in Mombasa.

“Captain announced that we were being rerouted to Mombasa because the crew was approaching the IATA maximum 15 hours on duty and exceeding it would occasion penalties including withdrawal of their licenses,” he added.

It wasn’t until 2am that they finally got to Nairobi.

Efforts by Nairobi News to get a comment from Kenya Airways on the incident were futile as our telephone calls went unanswered.