An airline in Somalia has praised one of its pilots after he crash-landed his passenger plane, which had suffered a technical fault, on the shoreline next to the capital's international airport with all 55 on board surviving, the BBC reported on Tuesday, February 10.

Starsky Aviation said the pilot's quick thinking was crucial in saving the 50 passengers and five crew.

The crew of the aircraft, a Fokker 50, reported a problem shortly after takeoff from Mogadishu on Tuesday morning and requested that the plane return, Somalia's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said.

It then touched down but failed to stop on the runway, overshooting the tarmac before coming to rest in shallow water, the CAA's director Ahmed Macalin Hassan said.

It is not clear yet exactly what the issue was. The plane was on its way to Puntland before the pilot requested a return to Mogadishu.

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