Nairobi, Kenya
AP
—
Eleven people, most of them foreign tourists, were killed in a plane crash in Kenya’s Kwale coastal region early Tuesday on their way to the Masai Mara National Reserve.
Mombasa Air Safari Airlines said in a statement that eight Hungarian and two German passengers were on board, as well as the Kenyan pilot. Officials said the plane crashed in a hilly and forested area about 40 kilometers from the Diani airstrip.
The airline did not say when the plane took off from the Diani airstrip, but said the pilot was unable to communicate upon departure and tried to make contact for 30 minutes until the airport’s control tower located the plane.
Kwale County Commissioner Stephen Olinde told The Associated Press that investigators were looking into the cause of the accident, which occurred at 5:30 a.m. local time. At the time, heavy rain was falling on the Kenyan coast.
Officials said the plane burst into flames, leaving charred debris at the scene. Witnesses told The Associated Press that they heard a loud bang and arrived at the scene to find unrecognizable human remains.
The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority earlier said there were 12 people on board the Cessna Caravan aircraft.
The Masai Mara National Reserve is located to the west of the coastline, a two-hour direct flight from Diani, a popular coastal town known for its sandy beaches. The reserve attracts many tourists due to the annual migration of wildebeest from the Serengeti in Tanzania.
The white sand beaches of Kenya’s Indian Ocean coastline attract tourists from all over the world.
Since 2018, the country’s accident investigations have fallen below the global average, according to Kenya’s latest safety oversight audit posted on the International Civil Aviation Organization’s website.
