Security officials secure wreckage of the aircraft | Photo: Laban Walloga/Reuters
An aircraft with 12 people on board has crashed in Kwale near Kenya‘s coast.
The plane was headed for the Maasai Mara National Reserve and crashed shortly after takeoff early Tuesday morning.
The reserve is a popular tourist destination which hosts the annual wildebeest migration from the Serengeti in Tanzania.
Daily Nation, a Kenyan newspaper, published images of the aircraft in flames on the ground with debris scattered at the scene of the crash.
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In a statement, the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) said government agencies were already on site working to determine the cause of the accident and assess its impact.
Daily Nation reported that the area had been experiencing heavy rainfall on Monday night and by Tuesday morning, the hilly terrain was covered in fog.
“It was still very early when I heard a loud bang. I rushed to the scene and found that the plane had caught fire and there was no one we could save,” the publication quoted Makopa Sazu, a resident of the area, as saying.
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Stephen Orinde, Kwale County commissioner, said the passengers were “all foreign tourists” and their nationalities would be confirmed later.
