Kiambu County plane crash: At least six dead as jet smashes into homes

A plane crash has left at least six people dead and two others injured after an aircraft smashed in a residential area in Ruiru, Kiambu County, Kenya.

The aircraft, a Cessna Citation XLS, belonged to AMREF Flying Doctors, which provides "fixed-wing air ambulance services" in Africa. It is not yet clear whatcaused the crash. Four people were onboard the plane at the time.

The deceased include two doctors, two nurses and two members of public, according to the Kiambu County Commissioner. It comes after reports of a dad's desperate phone call moments before explosion kills him and his daughters.

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"At this time, we are cooperating fully with relevant aviation authorities and emergency response teams to establish the facts surrounding the situation," AMREF Flying Doctors CEO Stephen Gitau said.

The Cessna took off from Wilson Airport in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi at 2:17pm and was on its way to Hargeisa, Somalia when it crashed. The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) said the aircraft lost radio and radar contact three minutes after it took off from Wilson Airport. Multiple homes were damaged near the crash site, which has a radius of around 100 metres.

The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and the National Police Service were deployed to the scene and both are now engaged in rescue operations. An investigation into the crash remains ongoing.

Local resident Njeri Wanjiru said the plane looked like it was "struggling to land" and "hit several houses" before it crashed, according to Daily Nation.

Yesterday, the crash of a military helicopter in Ghana killed all eight people onboard, including the West African country’s defence and environment ministers and other top officials, the government said.

Ghana’s military said the helicopter took off in the morning from the capital Accra and was heading north west into the interior towards the gold-mining area of Obuasi in the Ashanti region when it went off the radar. The wreckage was later found in the Adansi area of Ashanti.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known and the military said an investigation was under way. Defence minister Edward Omane Boamah and environment minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed were killed alongside the vice-chair of the National Democratic Congress ruling party, a top national security adviser, and crew members.

Ghana’s government described the crash as a “national tragedy”. State media reported that the aircraft was a Z-9 helicopter that is often used for transport and medical evacuation.

An online video of the crash site shows debris on fire in a forest as some citizens circle around to help. Wednesday’s crash was one of Ghana’s worst air disasters in more than a decade.