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 an airport in Nairobi at 2.17pm 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.
The service provider, AMREF Flying Doctors, did not provide a number of casualties or a probable cause of the crash.
But a Red Cross worker at the scene told Reuters: ‘So far we have recovered four bodies.’
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.’
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.
Rescuers inspect the wreckage at the scene of the plane crash near Nairobi
Emergency services work at the scene of the plane crash in Kenya
Pictured: People at the scene where the plane operated by AMREF Flying Doctors crashed into buildings
Emergency services look through the rubble at the scene of the horrific incident
Two other victims were inside a house into which the plane crashed, he said. Wafula added that another two had been ‘seriously injured’.
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.
This is a breaking news story – more to follow
