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Spirit Airlines plane hit by bullets while flying over Haiti's gang-war region

The Spirit Airlines flight was diverted to the Dominican Republic at an airport in Santiago, where it landed safely. According to officials, a crew member on the plane suffered “minor injuries” and the plane has since been removed from service. However, no further injuries were reported. File photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License photo

November 11 (UPI) – A Spirit Airlines plane was hit by gunfire while attempting to land in Haiti and a crew member suffered “minor injuries,” officials said Monday.

Florida-based Spirit Airlines Flight 951 was reportedly hit by gunfire while attempting to land in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince after departing over Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

It was diverted to the Dominican Republic at an airport in Santiago, where it landed safely. A crew member on the plane suffered “minor injuries” and the plane has since been decommissioned, according to officials.

No other injuries were reported.

A National Airport Authority source said the plane was about a mile from the local airport above Clercin – one of the well-known battlefields in Haiti's ongoing gang war – when it was shot at.

According to a CNN diplomatic source in Haiti, Haiti's main international airport, Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, has temporarily suspended operations.

The U.S. Embassy in Haiti says it is “aware of gang efforts to block travel to and from Port-au-Prince, which could include armed violence and disruption on roads, ports and airports,” according to a security alert.

In addition to Haiti-based Sunrise Airways, other US-based airlines JetBlue and American Airlines have also canceled flights to and from the island nation until at least Thursday.

In addition, the Federal Aviation Administration informed pilots that all air traffic to the international airport in Port-au-Prince was temporarily suspended.

Amid widespread unrest on the island of Hispaniola on the Haitian side, the shooting occurred on the same day that Haiti's ruling Transitional Council fired Prime Minister Garry Conille, just six months after appointing the doctor and former head of UNICEF Latin America to lead the troubled nation.

And recently, a United Nations helicopter was targeted by bullets while flying over Haiti's capital. And in October, rebel gangs fired gunfire at American embassy vehicles, leading to the evacuation of 20 U.S. embassy employees.

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