A Spirit Airlines flight was hit by gunfire as it attempted to land in Haiti, the airline and federal officials said Monday.
The flight was en route from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, when it had to be diverted to Santiago, Dominican Republic, Spirit said. News week.
After the flight arrived in Santiago, “an inspection revealed evidence of damage to the aircraft consistent with firearms fire,” Spirit’s statement said.
The Federal Aviation Administration said News week that the plane landed safely at Santiago De Los Caballeros Airport around 11:30 a.m. The FAA confirmed that the plane “was reportedly damaged by gunfire while attempting to land at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince.”
Spirit said a flight attendant on the plane suffered minor injuries and was being medically evaluated. No passengers were injured. Neither Spirit nor the FAA have confirmed the source of the gunshots.
The plane has been taken out of service and Spirit is arranging for another plane to return passengers and crew to Fort Lauderdale on Monday, according to Spirit’s statement.
The airline added: “The safety of our guests and team members is our top priority, and we have suspended our service to Port-au-Prince (PAP) and Cap-Haïtien (CAP) pending further evaluation. thoroughly.”
Additionally, the FAA said Toussaint Louverture International Airport “is now closed.”
News week contacted the Dominican Republic National Police by email for comment Monday afternoon.
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What is happening in Port-au-Prince?
Port-au-Prince has been overrun by gangs and a United Nations expert warned in September that the criminal activities of these gangs were spreading to Haiti.
William O’Neill, a United Nations expert on human rights in Haiti, “saw that areas previously unaffected by gang violence are now directly affected” during a trip to the Caribbean country.
More than 1,740 people were killed or injured in Haiti between July and September, according to the UN. This is an increase of almost 30 percent from the previous quarter. Most of the reported violence was murder, 1,223 murders to be exact, and gang violence is largely to blame. However, at least 106 extrajudicial executions were carried out by law enforcement.
Late last month, gangs took control of 85 percent of the Haitian capital, up from 80 percent, according to the Associated Press.
Gang violence began to spiral out of control after the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in 2021 by a group of foreign mercenaries. Garry Conille, a veteran international aid official, was named Haiti’s interim prime minister in May, just before the start of a U.N.-backed mission, led by 400 Kenyan police officers, that targeted Haitian criminals . The mission is struggling with a lack of funding and personnel.
Monda’s incident with Spirit Airlines occurred just hours before Haiti’s new prime minister, businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, was sworn in, the Miami Herald reported.
Fils-Aim’s replacement of Conille by a transitional council created to restore democratic order to Haiti was reported Sunday by the Associated Press a day earlier, thanks to an anonymous government source who provided the AP with the decree signed.
