A plane with 167 passengers was forced to make an emergency landing after taking off from Moi International Airport Mombasa on Saturday, September 18.
The aircraft belonging to Poland's Enter Air was carrying the passengers who boarded it in Mombasa and made an emergency landing in Addis Ababa after one of its engines began to give false readings.
Confirming the incident, Polish government official Piotr Wawrzyk through his social media page on Saturday, September 18, wrote that the plane had experienced some engine failure forcing it to land in Ethiopia.
The deputy foreign minister further assured the stranded passengers that the government had already sent another plane to pick them up from Ethiopia.
He indicated that Polish consular services were trying to obtain Ethiopian visas for the passengers to enable them to wait for another plane's arrival at a hotel.
Enter Air on the other side also confirmed that it was sending out a plane to pick up the passengers.
The company is the biggest private airline in Poland. In 2019, it carried 2.5 million passengers to over 30 countries.
The airline has since launched investigations into the cause of the first plane's technical difficulties.
They have also reached out to Ethiopian authorities but noted that communication with Ethiopia was poor.
On Friday, September 17, some planes en route to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) were diverted to Mombasa International Airport where the Polish plane took off from.
Mombasa International Airport manager Peter Wafula confirmed that the flights had been diverted due to bad weather in Nairobi.
In another incident, on Tuesday, September 7, all planes landing at the Wilson airport were diverted to JKIA.
Through a statement by Fly Safarilink to their clients indicated that the flights had been diverted due to bad weather.
