NAIRAGIE ENGARE, Kenya (AFP) — Two members of Kenya's government were among four people killed when their small plane smashed into a hillside Tuesday, on the eve of five crucial by-elections, officials said.
President Mwai Kibaki announced in a statement that Roads Minister Kipkalya Kones and assistant home affairs minister Lorna Laboso had been among the victims.
"Our country has lost leaders of immense potential at their prime age and with a promising future. Let us all remain united at this moment of sorrow as a nation," he said.
The six-seater Cessna aircraft slammed into a hillside in the Nairagie Engare area, about 140 kilometres (85 miles) west of Nairobi, after clipping the roof of an isolated house.
An AFP photographer on the scene said the plane had been completely crushed on impact. The emergency services had arrived at the scene just before nightfall.
Several hundred onlookers had gathered near the crash site and were being kept at bay by police while investigators began their work in a bid to determine the cause of the crash.
The civil aviation official said the plane with a maximum capacity of six passengers was about to land when the accident happened.
"It was flying from Nairobi to Kericho (in the Rift Valley). It had flown 40 minutes and had about 10 minutes to fly before landing. That is when it came crashing down," the official added.
Operated by a Nairobi-based company, the aircraft crashed at 3:00 p.m. (1200 GMT) after having taken off from the capital's Wilson airport.
A pilot and a Kenyan police officer, described by officials as a bodyguard, were killed in the crash.
The two ministers were members of Prime Minister Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement that is in a coalition government with Kibaki's Party of National Unity.
Kones, a 56-year-old trained teacher was first elected to parliament in 1988 and served in several ministerial roles. He also represented Kenya in funding talks with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Laboso, 47, first elected to parliament in 2007, was a veteran grass-roots rights organiser who rose to fame for fiercely campaigning against female genital mutilation among her Kipsigis tribe.
The mother of eight had worked in various positions in the horticultural sector.
When news of the crash broke, Kenyan ministers attending mediation talks a Nairobi hotel suspended the meeting, officials said.
Officials said Kones, 56, and Laboso, 47, were headed to Kericho to observe parliamentary by-elections scheduled for Wednesday. It was not clear whether or not the five by-elections would go ahead.
Two of the polls were to replace MPs who were gunned down earlier this year. Two others were being held in Rift Valley constituencies where the violence that followed the dispute over the December 27 general elections prevented the results from being announced.
The fifth seat was left vacant by Kenneth Marende when he was elected as parliamentary speaker.
The by-elections were seen as a key test for Kenya's fledgling government coalition, which was formed after painstaking negotiations to end the post-election violence that left at least 1,500 people dead.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
