A plane has crashed in a residential area outside Kenya’s capital killing at least six people.
The mid-sized jet, which belonged to an air ambulance service, had taken off from Wilson Airport in Nairobi at 2.14pm and was heading to the territory of Somaliland.
The Cessna Citation XLS plane crashed into buildings in the residential area of Mwihoko in Kiambu County just 40 minutes later.
Local police commander Anthony Keter told The Standard newspaper that the accident occurred near Morendat Farm on the northeastern side of Lake Naivasha.
A Red Cross worker at the scene told Reuters: ‘So far we have recovered four bodies.’
A local official, Kiambu County Commissioner Henry Wafula, told reporters at the scene that four people on board, including the pilot, were killed in the crash.
Two other victims were inside a house into which the plane crashed, he said. Wafula added that another two had been ‘seriously injured’.
One witness, who asked not to be named, said she heard a loud sound, then saw a fireball and debris scattered over the neighbourhood.
Unverified videos shared on social media showed firefighters trying to douse burning debris inside what appeared to be a residential compound.
The service provider, AMREF Flying Doctors, did not provide a number of casualties or a probable cause of the crash.
It said in a statement that it was ‘cooperating fully with relevant aviation authorities and emergency response teams to establish the facts surrounding the situation.’
The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority said the plane lost contact with air traffic control three minutes after it took off.
‘We are deeply saddened by this tragic incident involving an air ambulance mission,’ KCAA said in a statement.
The Kenya Red Cross said that its rescue teams headed to the crash scene in Kiambu, a county that shares a border with Nairobi.
Earlier, the Kenya Red Cross had said that the aircraft that crashed was a helicopter.
Crashes involving light aircraft are relatively common in eastern Africa.
In April last year, Kenya’s military chief was among 10 people killed when their military helicopter crashed shortly after take-off.
The plane crash came as at least four people were killed after a train and a bus collided on a railway crossing in central Kenya.
The Kenya Pipeline Company, whose bus was involved in the accident, said it was carrying staff finishing their morning shift at a training centre near the town of Naivasha.
‘All injured staff have been evacuated to hospitals within Naivasha for medical attention,’ the company said in a statement.
It added that it would organise airlifts for those critically injured.
A Red Cross worker at the scene told Reuters that so far emergency teams had recovered four bodies from the wreckage.
The Kenya Pipeline Company did not say how many people had been killed or injured.
This is a breaking news story – more to follow
