German and Hungarian Tourists killed in plane crash along Indian Ocean Coastline of Kenya
At least eleven people have been confirmed dead when a plane belonging to Mombasa Air Safari crashed along the coastline of Kenya while taking tourists to Maasai Mara National Reserve.
In an official statement, the management of Mombasa Air Safari, revealed that eight Hungarian and two German passengers who were on board perished alongside the Kenyan pilot.
Authority reports have that the plane crashed in the forested and hilly areas of Kwale Region mapped within 60 kilometers from the Diani airstrip.
The Cessna aircraft burst into flames, leaving charred wreckage of the fuselage at the location.
Witnesses said that they heard a loud bang, and upon arriving at the scene, they found unrecognizable human remains.
The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority had earlier said that 12 people were on board the Cessna Grand Caravan airplane.
The airline officials did not explain at what time the aircraft did take off from the Diani airstrip, saying the pilot failed to communicate upon departure and the airport control tower tried to reach him for 30 minutes before the plane was located.
“Our primary focus right now is on providing all possible support to the families affected,” the airline management stated while speaking to media outlets.
Investigating agencies were looking into the cause of the crash that happened at Kwale County.
The local commissioner Stephen Orinde and the ministry of transport stated that there was heavy rain in coastal Kenya in the morning of the plane crash.
“The weather is not very good here at the moment. Since early in the morning, it has been raining and the area is very misty,” Orinde explained.
The Kenyan coastline’s white sand beaches along the Indian Ocean attract tourists from all over the world and these ones wanted to connect to the wildlife park further inland for the ultimate experience
Bordering the Serengeti, the Maasai Mara National Reserve, located west of the coastline, is a two-hour direct flight from Diani, a popular coastal town known for its sandy beaches.
The reserve attracts a large number of tourists as it features the annual wildebeest migration from the Serengeti in Tanzania.
Last year, tourists were evacuated by helicopter from the reserve as devastating flooding hit the sanctuary.
According to the most recent safety oversight audit for Kenya posted on the International Civil Aviation Organization site, from 2018, the country fell below the global average in accident investigations.
In 2019, a small plane carrying five people from the nature reserve crashed in the west of the country, killing two Americans.