At least two Americans killed in Kenya plane crash
At least two Americans have died in a plane crash in Kenya. The small plane carrying five people from the Maasai Mara nature reserve crashed in the west of the country, police said Wednesday.
A spokesperson at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi told CBS News that at least two Americans were killed in the crash, but referred to the State Department in Washington for further details.
A police source told AFP on condition of anonymity that a Kenyan pilot and four foreigners died in the crash and three of the passengers were identified as Americans; two women and a man.
"There were five occupants in the plane and they did not survive," confirmed Edward Mwamburi, police chief for the Rift Valley region, without confirming the victims' nationalities.
He said the Cessna plane was heading from the famed Maasai Mara to Lodwar, near Lake Turkana, which is also popular with tourists.
In June last year, a plane belonging to the FlySAX airline crashed on the edge of the Aberdares mountain range, leaving 10 people dead.
Kenya has a vibrant airline industry, with national airline Kenya Airways operating internationally and locally alongside successful low-cost airlines and charter companies.
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in 2014, some 130,000 planes land and take off from Kenya each year, and the country has 35 operating airlines.
The IATA said Kenya's air transport infrastructure quality ranks 6th out of 37 countries surveyed in Africa.