NAIROBI, June 7, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – All 10 passengers of a small plane, whose
wreckage was discovered in central Kenya two days after it went missing, died
in the accident, the airline and government said Thursday.
“Unfortunately, from the reports we are getting there are no survivors.
The families of the passengers and the crew have been notified and as a
ministry, we truly regret this very sad outcome and send out our heartfelt
condolences to the bereaved families,” said Paul Maringa, principal secretary
of the transport ministry.
A surveillance helicopter spotted the wreckage of the Cessna plane
belonging to the FlySAX airline near the town of Njabini on the edge of the
Aberdares mountain range early Thursday morning.
Search teams were dispatched to the site.
“It is with a heavy heart that I wish to inform you that we have received
information there are no survivors in the recent incident that we had,”
FlySAX chairman Charles Wako told journalists at the Weston Hotel after
briefing families who had gathered there at a crisis centre.
The plane, operated by East African Safari Air Express, took off from the
western town of Kitale in the late afternoon Tuesday.
It disappeared off the radar screens at Nairobi international airport, its
final destination, around 80 minutes later, the owners said in a statement.
Kenya has been experiencing heavy rains which along with foggy conditions
hampered search efforts by the Civil Aviation Authority, Kenya Wildlife
Service, air force and Red Cross.
President Uhuru Kenyatta said the families of the victims would “have
every assistance my administration can offer, now and in the days to come.
They can be sure that there will be a full review of our procedures, so that
we can all understand how this tragedy happened.”
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 carring internal security minister
George Saitot 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.