Tears as 11 tourists, pilot killed as plane crashes in Kenya

File: Crashed plane

A SMALL passenger aircraft belonging to Mombasa Air Safari crashed early Tuesday morning in Kwale County, Kenya, killing all 11 people on board, including eight Hungarian tourists, two Germans, and a Kenyan pilot.

Authorities said the aircraft, a Cessna Caravan-type plane, was flying from Diani airstrip on Kenya’s southern coast to a private airstrip near the Maasai Mara National Reserve, one of East Africa’s top safari destinations, when it went down in a hilly, forested area about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Diani.

Officials said the crash occurred at about 8:35 a.m. local time after the pilot failed to maintain radio contact with air traffic control shortly after takeoff. Attempts by the control tower to reach the plane went unanswered for more than 30 minutes before search teams located the burning wreckage in the thick vegetation of Shimba Hills.

According to Kwale County Commissioner Stephen Orinde, the plane “burst into flames on impact,” leaving no survivors. Witnesses told reporters they heard a loud explosion followed by thick smoke rising from the area.

“We heard a huge bang and ran towards the direction of the sound. When we arrived, there was nothing left of the plane — it was completely burnt,” one resident told The Associated Press.

Officials from the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) and the Ministry of Transport said investigations were underway to determine the cause of the accident. Early reports suggest poor weather conditions and heavy coastal rainfall may have contributed to the crash.

The Kenya tragedy adds to a growing list of fatal plane crashes across the world in the past year, raising concerns about aviation safety and the operational integrity of small regional airlines.