By Somali national forces in the area where a UN helicopter was captured by al-Shabaab fighters are continuing to search for passengers, Daud Aweis, Somalia’s Minister of Information, Culture, and Tourism told CNN on Thursday.
Aweis said they had been searching for the passengers since Wednesday night.
“They are doing a search in a very practical way because they have to engage the local people in the area to get information and gather intelligence to find where they are and so they can be quickly rescued,” he said, adding that the Somali government was still waiting for an update on the search.
Eight people were on board the helicopter when it was captured by al-Shabaab fighters in the Galmugud region, including foreigners and one Somali citizen, Aweis said. He was not able to confirm if anyone had died or escaped, saying that Somali forces were searching for all eight people.
The UN emergency assistance helicopter made an emergency landing likely due to a mechanical issue in Galmudug, which is controlled buy the al-Qaeda affiliated terror group, according to the state-run Somali National News Agency (SONNA).
