Passengers stranded in Kenya after airport closure

Passengers were stranded in Nairobi on Monday following the closure of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on Sunday evening after an airplane from Somalia veered off the runway.

The passengers coming from various destinations and those taking off from JKIA were stranded for up to eight hours as officials worked to remove the plane from the scene.

Kenya Airport Authority (KAA) officials said the runaway was cleared at midnight after many flights had been canceled. The passengers are being cleared slowly.

Kenya Airways said they expect spill-over delays on Monday's operations due to the closure.

"It has not been an easy night due to the runway closure, we are glad that 99 percent of our diverted flights have already landed in Nairobi. Keep checking our website for updated departure times," the national carrier said.

Officials said an aircraft from Somalia made an emergency landing at JKIA, landing on its belly and veered off the runaway. Four people who were on board escaped unhurt.

The Kenya Airways assured all passengers that there was no cause for alarm as the situation would get back to normal.

The incident happened at about 4: 55 p.m. local time on Sunday as the plane was landing. The pilot for flight 5Y-BSI 1900 belly-landed and veered off the airport's single runway and no injury was reported.

This affected flights that were landing from local airports and international ones. Several flights were diverted to Mombasa and stayed there until about midnight.

Many of the affected passengers took to the social media to vent their anger blaming the managers at the airport for failing to inform them on the progress of their delayed flights. Endit