Six people were killed after a light plane crashed at a medical charity in Nairobi, Kenya’s Capitol, a local official said.
The charity AMREF flight doctor said the Cessna plane took off from Wilson Airport Thursday afternoon, when it headed to Hargisa, Somalia, when it crashed and erupted in a residential building in the Giserre area of Nairobi.
Kiambu County Commissioner Henry Wafula said six people were killed on the plane, including doctors, nurses and pilots – and two others locally, while two others were seriously injured.
Investigators have been dispatched to the crash site to establish its cause.
Kenya Civil Aviation Authority said the plane lost contact with air traffic control just three minutes after taking off.
The charity said there were four crew members and AMREF employees on board.
“At present, we are fully working with relevant aviation authorities and emergency response teams to determine the facts surrounding the situation,” AMREF CEO Stephen Gitau said in a statement.
The Kenyan Defense Forces and the National Police Service have been deployed to the site for search and recovery operations.
Witness Patricia Kombo told the BBC that she and her friends were sitting in a taxi with her friends when they heard a loud sensation and a red flash.
“The smoke disappeared before I picked up my phone to record the flash. Then, we heard people screaming and running, so we ended the trip.
“We then found out that it was a plane crash and saw the sinking holes caused by the crash in the ground,” she said.
At a railway crossing point near the town of Naivasha in central Kenya, a train and a bus collided, killing at least four people, Reuters reported.
The Kenya Pipeline Company bus, which was involved in the incident, said it was carrying staff to complete morning shifts at one of its training centers and that all injured employees had been taken to the hospital for treatment.
