Several airlines have halted flights to Haiti after a passenger plane from the United States was hit by gunfire when it tried to land in Port-au-Prince.
The vehicle in particular –Spirit Airlines Flight 951 from Fort Lauderdale in Florida was thereafter diverted to the neighbouring Dominican Republic, where it landed safely at Santiago Airport.
A flight attendant had suffered minimal injuries but no passengers were hurt in the attack. This incident will make it the second in three weeks on aircraft flying over Haiti’s capital and it had come on the heels of a new prime minister resuming office in the crisis-hit country plagued by armed gangs and escalating violence.
Haiti’s prime minister, Alix Didier Fils-Aimé had remarked to AFP news agency, saying that his priority was “restoring security”, notwithstanding the country’s “difficult circumstances”. He also promised to put all of his energy, skills and “patriotism at the service of the national cause”.
The Spirit Airlines flight had been slated to touch down at Toussaint Louverture International Airport just before 12:00 (17:00 GMT) when it was attacked.
An unverified video of the incident posted to social media had revealed several bullet holes on the inside of the aircraft, where the crew normally sat during take-off and landing.
A statement put out by Spirit Airlines said that the damage was “consistent with gunfire” had been found when the plane was inspected at Santiago Airport. “The aircraft was taken out of commission,” Spirit said, adding that it had also suspended flights to Haiti “pending further evaluation”.
Spirit is a low-cost airline established in Florida which operates throughout the US, Caribbean and Latin America.
Two other US airlines, American Airlines and JetBlue, had also suspended flights to Haiti until Thursday at the least.
Over recent months, the security situation has drastically deteriorated in Haiti.
In October, gang members shot at a UN helicopter, causing some airlines to temporarily cancel flights to the Caribbean nation.
A UN-backed policing mission, led by officers from Kenya, began making attempts in June to wrest back control from gangs but from the looks of things, not much headway has been achieved.
