A tragic air accident occurred in Kenya on Thursday when a medical light aircraft crashed into a residential building in Ruiru, Kiambu County, near the capital Nairobi, killing at least six people and leaving two others seriously injured.
The crash came just a day after a separate aviation disaster in Ghana, where a military helicopter went down, claiming the lives of all eight people on board, including the country’s ministers of defence and environment.
According to reports, the Kenyan aircraft departed Nairobi’s Wilson Airport at 2:17 pm local time (1100 GMT) bound for Somaliland but went down less than an hour later, at about 3:00 pm (1200 GMT).
“We have lost four people, including the pilot… it was all fatal,” confirmed Kiambu County commissioner, Henry Wafula. He added that “the house that it landed on… two people also died,” and noted that two others on the ground were “seriously injured.”
Photographs from AFP showed large crowds at the crash site as emergency teams worked through the wreckage.
Witnesses recounted the harrowing moments before the crash. “The plane started burning while in the air,” said resident Tasha Wanjira, describing how it plunged into the neighbourhood. Another resident, Irene Wangui, recalled how the “plane passed by our building shaking it,” before impact, adding that “there were body parts littered all over.”
As evening fell, the area remained crowded with onlookers, some in tears. “I have lost everything, thank God my children were not around,” lamented Margaret Wairimu, whose home was destroyed.
Amref Flying Doctors CEO, Stephen Gitau, confirmed that one of their Cessna Citation XLS aircraft had been “involved in a fatal accident today,” but withheld further details. He emphasised that the organisation’s priority was “the safety and well-being of those on board” and pledged to share more information “as it is confirmed.”
Amref, founded in 1957 as the Flying Doctors of East Africa, is based in Nairobi and operates medical evacuation services across the region.
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