Two people, a teacher and a student, have died after a light aircraft crashed during a routine training flight in Kipeto, Kajiado County, on Friday, September 18.
Kajiado West Police Commander Maureen Kuto confirmed the incident, saying the aircraft was carrying two occupants when it crashed in the Kipeto area near a wind power plant.
Kuto said the student died at the scene, while the teacher later succumbed to injuries while being transported to Kajiado Referral Hospital for treatment.
“When we received a phone call, we were alerted that an aircraft had been involved in an accident and had two people on board, a student and a teacher. The first victim succumbed at the scene while the second succumbed while being rushed to hospital,” she said.
Preliminary investigations pointed to poor visibility caused by heavy morning mist as a possible factor in the accident, according to the police commander.
“The preliminary cause of the aircraft accident is poor visibility that was occasioned by poor visibility in the morning as a result of the mist,” Kuto added.
She said the pilot attempted to make a crash landing after encountering the poor visibility, but the aircraft eventually crashed.
“There was a lot of mist in the morning, so they tried to crash-land, but unfortunately the aircraft crashed,” she revealed.
Images obtained by Vantage Ke and widely shared on social media showed the wreckage scattered across a dry, open field at the crash site.
Several people, including emergency responders dressed in protective gear, were seen surrounding the heavily damaged aircraft as they examined the wreckage.
Fragments of the aircraft's metal body, luggage believed to have belonged to the occupants and other items were strewn across the field, highlighting the severity of the crash.
Security officers and emergency response teams were also deployed to the scene as authorities began assessing the circumstances surrounding the accident.
