As many as 12 people were killed after a plane heading to Kichwa Tembo in Kenya’s Maasai Mara crashed in the Kwale Simba area on Tuesday, according to local media reports.
Confirming the crash, Kenya’s Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) said, “KCAA wishes to confirm that an aircraft, registration number 5Y-CCA, on its way from Diana to Kichwa Tembo, crashed at 0530Z.”
According to Kenyan local news, Kwale County Commissioner Steven Orinde said that all 12 victims were foreign tourists travelling to the Mara. “We are yet to establish their nationality, but they were all foreign tourists heading to Mara,” Orinde stated.
Later, Mombasa Air Safari Limited identified the passengers and crew members on board as 10 passengers and two crew members, including eight Hungarians and two Germans.
Government agencies have reached the crash site and launched an investigation to determine the cause of the accident and assess the impact, according to reports.
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The incident comes just two months after a similar air crash in August, in which at least six people were killed and two others injured when a light aircraft belonging to AMREF Flying Doctors went down in a residential area on the outskirts of Nairobi, according to a government official.
Kiambu County Commissioner Henry Wafula said, “We have six people dead — the four who were on board and two on the ground. Two others were injured on the ground.”
He added that the deceased included four medical personnel on board the Cessna Citation 560 ambulance aircraft, registration 5Y-FDM, and two members of the public at the crash site.
In a statement following that incident, Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) Director-General Emile Arao said the aircraft had taken off from Wilson Airport in Nairobi at 2:14 p.m. local time and was heading to Hargeisa in northern Somalia. The plane crashed three minutes later in the Mwihoko area.
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