kenya Plane Crash Kills 11 Tourists En Route to Maasai Mara
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - A Cessna Caravan aircraft carrying tourists to the Maasai Mara National reserve crashed in Kenya on Sunday, killing all 11 people on board, authorities said. The plane went down in a remote area of the reserve, bursting into flames and leaving charred wreckage.
The crash raises renewed scrutiny of aviation safety in Kenya, notably regarding accident investigation protocols. The victims included two Hungarian families and an acquaintance, with two children among the dead, according to Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán expressed condolences, calling it a “tragedy.”
Initial reports indicated the crash occurred at 5:30 a.m., but Transport Minister Kipchumba Murkomen later stated the time was 8:35 a.m. The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority initially reported 12 people were aboard before revising the number to 11.
Witnesses at the scene reported hearing a loud bang and discovering unrecognizable remains. The aircraft was operated by Mombasa Air Safari, which utilizes 13-passenger Cessnas for flights to tourist destinations, including the Maasai Mara, a two-hour flight from the coastal town of Diani.
This is not the first incident for Mombasa Air safari; a company plane crashed in the Maasai Mara in 2012, resulting in four fatalities. A 2018 safety oversight audit by the International Civil Aviation Organization found Kenya’s accident investigation performance below the global average.
Kenyan authorities and the Hungarian foreign ministry are working to identify the victims and provide assistance to their families. The Hungarian consul in Kenya is traveling to the crash site.
