Lawmakers killed in plane crash

2006-04-10 20:17

Nairobi - A military plane carrying Kenyan government officials and lawmakers to peace talks crashed in thick fog in northern Kenya on Monday.

Kenyan officials said at least 14 people had been killed in the crash.

The Chinese-built Kenyan Air Force Harbin Y-12 twin-engine turboprop went down and burst into flames near Marsabit National Park, about 430 kilometres northeast of Nairobi, said the officials.

Marsabit district commissioner Mutea Iringo said: "They lost the direction of the airstrip because of foggy weather and crash landed on a hill about three kilometres from Marsabit town.

"After it crashed, it burst into flames and the fire was so fierce some of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition."

Speaker of the Kenyan national assembly Francis ole Kaparo, said he believed six members of the country's parliament had been killed in the crash.

Kaparo said: "It appears that we have lost about six members of parliament. This has never happened before."

Of four badly wounded survivors, plucked from the wreckage within hours of the crash and flown to Nairobi for emergency medical treatment, one died en route to the capital.

Those on board the plane were headed to Marsabit, to defuse tribal tensions over water and pasture exacerbated in recent months by a searing drought.

Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki expressed "shock and disbelief" on learning of the accident.

Officials said among the dead are Mirugi Kariuki, assistant minister for provincial administration, opposition lawmaker and former foreign minister Bonaya Godana, and four other members of parliament.

- AFP