Nov. 11 (UPI) — A Spirit Airlines flight was hit by gunfire while attempting to land in Haiti and a crew member sustained “minor injuries,” officials said Monday.
Florida-based Spirit Airlines’ Flight 951 reportedly was struck by gunfire while it attempted land in the Haitian capitol of Port-au-Prince after it departed via Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
It was diverted to the Dominican Republic at a Santiago airport, where it landed safely. A crew member on the plane experienced “minor injuries” and the aircraft has since been taken out of air service, according to officials.
No other injuries were reported.
A source with the National Airport Authority said the plane was roughly one mile from the local airport above Clercin — one of the known battlegrounds in Haiti’s ongoing gang war — when it was fired at.
According to a CNN diplomatic source in Haiti, its main international airport, the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, has temporarily paused its operations.
The U.S. Embassy in Haiti says it was “aware of gang-led efforts to block travel to and from Port-au-Prince which may include armed violence, and disruptions to roads, ports, and airports,” according to a security alert.
Along with the Haiti-based Sunrise Airways, other U.S.-based air carriers JetBlue and American Airlines until at least Thursday have cancelled flights to and from the island nation.
In addition, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a notice to pilots that all flight traffic ops were temporarily suspended into the international airport in Port-au-Prince.
Amid widespread turmoil on the island of Hispaniola on its Haitian side for nearly a year now, the shooting incident took place the same day Haiti’s ruling transitional council fired Prime Minister Garry Conille just six months after the doctor and former UNICEF Latin America head was appointed to lead the troubled nation.
And more recently, a United Nations helicopter was targeted hit by bullets while flying over Haiti’s capital city. And in October, rebel gangs targeted American embassy vehicles by gunfire which prompted an evacuation of 20 U.S. embassy personnel.
