NAIROBI, April 10: A military plane carrying Kenyan government officials and lawmakers to peace talks crashed in thick fog on Monday in northern Kenya, killing 14 people on board, authorities said.
Officials said the Chinese-built Kenyan Air Force Harbin Y-12 twin-engine turboprop burst into flames near Marsabit National Park, 430kms northeast of Nairobi.
An official said the plane had crashed in heavy fog as it approached the airstrip outside town and smashed into a hill before catching fire.
“They lost direction of the airstrip because of foggy weather and then crash landed on a hill about three kilometres from Marsabit town,” he said.
“After it crashed, it burst into flames and the fire was so fierce that some of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition,” Iringo said.
Six members of parliament were believed to have been killed in the crash, the worst-ever single disaster to befall the legislature, said National Assembly speaker Francis ole Kaparo.
“It appears that we have lost about six members of parliament,” he told reporters. “It has never happened before.”
Of four badly wounded survivors known to have been plucked from the wreckage and flown to Nairobi for emergency medical treatment, one died en route to the capital.—AFP
