Crash: Weather stops search

2003-07-21 16:47

London - The search for victims of the weekend's Mount Kenya plane crash has been suspended due to thick cloud and fog, officials have said, BBC reported.

Twelve United States tourists and two South African pilots were killed when their plane crashed into Africa's second-highest mountain.

The dead tourists included three generations of a single family from the US city of Atlanta.

Bad weather has been blamed for the crash by Josiah Achoki, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) assistant director for security.

A 21-man team of Kenyan police investigators and KWS recovery workers arrived at the accident scene early on Monday morning, said Kenyan senior police Superintendent Severino Kubai.

They began sifting through the wreckage that was scattered over a large area on Mount Kenya, before the search was called off.

These people were the heart of Trinity Presbyterian Church as much as anybody else

The poor visibility prevented helicopters from landing, said Superintendent Kubai.

A KWS team who trekked up to the crash site said they had seen the bodies of four children and recovered eight US passports on the mountain's slopes.

'Total shock'

The victims have been named as Dr George Brumley, 68, his wife, Jean, 67; three of their children, George III, daughters Lois and Beth, George's wife Julia and two children, George IV and Jordan, Lois' husband Richard Murrell and their son, Alex, 11, and Beth's husband William Love and their daughter, Sarah, 12.

"This morning they have been able to collect some pieces of the bodies. We are yet to communicate with them and get the number of dead bodies they have been able to recover," said Mr Kubai.

"Because when they get the pieces, you cannot say this is body number one or body number two until when they are confirmed."

Reverend PC Enniss Junior at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, where the family worshipped told Associated Press (AP) that the victims' relatives were in total shock, "as everyone in the church family is".

"These people were the heart of Trinity Presbyterian Church as much as anybody else. They were involved in every mission, every governing decision, everything," he said

The South African-registered plane was flying over the 5 182m mountain, 112km north of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, when the accident occurred.

Kenya Civil Aviation officials told Reuters news agency the aircraft, which had been flying the tourists to Samburu in northern Kenya, appeared to have lost its way after reaching the Mount Kenya's third highest point.

Peter Wakahia, a Kenyan civil aviation official, said that the aircraft had been completely destroyed and that debris was scattered on two rock outcrops on either side of the point of impact.

Mount Kenya, an extinct volcano, has three peaks: Batian at 5 147m; Nelion at 5 136m; and Point Lenana at 4 935m.

- News24