ZCZC
BFF-34
KENYA-ACCIDENT-PLANE
Five killed in plane crash in Kenya: police
NAIROBI, Feb 13, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Five people have died after a small
plane carrying them from Kenya’s Maasai Mara nature reserve crashed in the
west of the country, police said Wednesday.
“There were five occupants in the plane and they did not survive,” said
Edward Mwamburi, police chief for the Rift Valley region.
He said the Cessna plane was heading from the Maasai Mara to Lodwar, near
Lake Turkana.
Emergency services have been sent to the scene.
In June last year, a plane belonging to the FlySAX airline crashed on the
edge of the Aberdares mountain range, leaving 10 people dead.
Kenya has a vibrant airline industry, with national airline Kenya Airways
operating internationally and locally alongside successful low-cost airlines
and charter companies.
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in 2014,
some 130,000 planes land and take off from Kenya each year, and the country
has 35 operating airlines.
The IATA said Kenya’s air transport infrastructure quality ranks 6th out
of 37 countries surveyed in Africa.
In October 2017 five passengers were killed when a helicopter crashed into
Lake Nakuru, while in 2012 a helicopter carrying internal security minister
George Saitoti crashed, killing all six passengers on board.
Kenya’s worst crash in recent years took place in 2007, when a Kenya
Airways flight from Abidjan to Nairobi via Douala crashed into a swamp after
take-off, killing all 114 passengers.
In 2000 another Kenya Airways flight from Abidjan to Nairobi crashed into
the Atlantic Ocean minutes after take-off, killing 169 people while 10
survived.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1520 hrs