Death Toll in AMREF Plane Crash in Kiambu County Hits 6
- Kiambu County Commissioner Henry Wafula has confirmed that six people died in the Mwihoko aircraft crash
- The plane operated by AMREF Flying Doctors was headed to Somalia when it tumbled into a residential estate
- Four members of AMREF were on board the plane, and they died on the spot, with their bodies burnt and scattered across the scene; two others died under the house the plane landed on
Search option is now available at TUKO! Feel free to search the content on topics/people you enjoy reading about in the top right corner ;)
Kai Eli, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, brings more than three years of experience covering politics and current affairs in Kenya.
At least six people have died from the aircraft crash in Kiambu County's Mwihoko area on Thursday, August 7.
Source: Twitter
Kiambu County Commissioner Henry Wafula said six people died in the crash.
What Kiambu county commissioner said about Mwihoko plane crash
Wafula said the plane tumbled into a house, killing two people who were inside.
Search option is now available at TUKO! Feel free to search the content on topics/people you enjoy reading about in the top right corner ;)
"Six people are dead. Two doctors, two nurses, of course with the pilot. You can see the wreckage. The aircraft was being piloted, right? Yeah, so that's what has happened. Two died on the ground," Wafula told the press.
He also confirmed that the ill-fated plane was not owned by the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) as some reports had earlier indicated.
The ill-fated aircraft was a Cessna Citation XLS (5Y-FDM).
Where was AMREF plane flying to?
It was en route to Somalia on a medical rescue mission when it came down at the residential estate in Mwihoko.
The plane was carrying four people; two pilots, a doctor and a nurse.
The impact of the crash tore the aircraft, with the bodies getting burnt and scattered across the scene.
Officers from the National Police Service (NPS), Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and Kenya Red Cross were the responders at the scene.
What AMREF boss said
Addressing the media later in the day, AMREF chief executive officer Stephen Gitau shared that the helicopter crashed just three minutes into taking off.
It had left the Wilson Airport on Thursday afternoon.
Source: Twitter
Gitau said AMREF was yet to come to terms with the fatal accident, explaining that the aircraft was in good condition.
He revealed that the organisation's aircraft are subjected to prior high-level checks before embarking on a medical mission.
Further, its crew is highly trained and hence, the Mwihoko crash was unforeseen.
Why AMREF can't establish cause of Mwihoko plane crash
The CEO said that they were keen to establish the cause of the crash, but this would be dependent on the availability of the plane's black box, which had detached from the aircraft and disappeared from the scene.
According to Gitau, the black box would retrieve the cockpit recordings and flight data that would shed light on what really happened leading up to the crash.
AMREF's team camped at the scene to comb through the rubble, trying to find it, this as they appealed to the members of the public to help locate it.
The team was headed to Hargeisa to rescue a sick baby and bring them to Nairobi for medical atention.
With the accident, AMREF organised for alternatives to have the baby flown to Nairobi as planned.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
