14 killed in Kenyan military plane crash*
10/04/2006 - 12:34:48 PM
A Kenyan military plane crashed today in northern Kenya, killing 14 people.
Among the passengers were four members of parliament and a provincial commissioner.
The plane crashed into a hill near the town of Marsabit, 280 miles north-east of Nairobi, while carrying the leaders to a meeting intended to ease tensions in the area, Marsabit District Commissioner Mutua Iringu told the Kenya Television Network.
Only four of the 18 people on board were pulled out of the burning wreckage alive, he said.
“The fire was very intense and there is no way anyone else could have survived,” he said.
A senior civil servant saw the provincial commissioner, Patrick Osare, with a leg injury at Marsabit District Hospital and added that one of the pilots lost both his legs in the crash.
The official said he did not have any immediate information about the fate of the politicians.
The Ministry of Defence issued a statement reporting that 17 people were on the Chinese-built Y-12 plane when it crashed, “including government officials, leaders and crew”, but did not report any casualties.
“The government has dispatched a search-and-rescue team to support rescue operations which are in progress,” the statement said.
A nurse, who did not give her name, confirmed that four patients had arrived at the district hospital.