A police bodyguard was killed Tuesday at Dhusamareb airport in central Somalia after walking into the propeller of a plane that had just landed, while the blades were still spinning.
The victim was identified in Somali media as Mukhtar Qasim Samayi, an officer in the Somali police force who served on the security detail of Maalin Mahdi, the police commander of the Banadir region, whose capital is Mogadishu.
Mahdi and his security team had arrived at the airport ahead of Thursday's inauguration ceremony for Ahmed Hassan Liiban, the incoming president of Galmudug state, one of Somalia's federal member states. Security arrangements in the city were heightened for the event, and several senior security officials traveled to the area.
Footage circulated after the incident shows the bodyguard descending the aircraft stairs and beginning to walk away from the plane, apparently unaware that the propeller was still rotating. Moments later, the fatal impact occurred. According to Somali media reports, Samayi was killed on the spot.
The video shows another security officer attempting to pull him away from the propeller, without success. The moment of impact itself is not visible in the footage.
