Four tourists killed in Tanzania plane crash

By ZEPHANIA UBWANI in ArushaPosted Saturday, November 8 2008 at 21:28

Four Italian tourists were killed on Saturday when a Kenyan-registered plane crashed into Mawenzi peak on Mt Kilimanjaro in northern Tanzania. The Kenyan pilot, however, survived.

The six-seater Cessna 206 hit the rugged peak at 11 am, the Kilimanjaro regional police commander, Mr Lucas Ng’hoboko, said in a telephone interview late Saturday.

The Kenyan pilot is being treated for serious injuries at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre Referral Hospital in Moshi. Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe confirmed the crash from Nairobi.

Bodies

The bodies of the four, who are yet to be identified, have been taken to a mortuary in Moshi on the slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro.

The plane, Registration No 5YA00, was said to belong to a Nairobi-based company, the regional police chief said. He said the four tourists died on the spot when the plane went down at an altitude of 4,330 metres above sea level.

Snow-capped Kibo, the highest peak on Mt Kilimanjaro — Africa’s highest mountain — towers at 5,895 metres above sea level. Mawenzi peak is often free of ice glaciers.

“Only the pilot survived but he has been admitted to hospital with serious injuries,” Mr Ng’hoboko said, adding that investigations into the cause of the crash were under way.

Source Daily Nation