Missing Kenyan plane: What we know so far

Search teams to concentrate their efforts on Njambini area in Kinangop.

    

By DAILY NATION

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Search for a missing plane that disappeared in Kenya late Tuesday resumed early Wednesday.

The light aircraft operated by FlySax went missing on Tuesday evening as it headed to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in the capital Nairobi.

Search for the plane, its crew and passengers is still ongoing.

This is what we know so far:

• Take-off

— The FlySax-operated Cesna C208 craft, registration number 5Y-CAC, took off from an airstrip in the western town of Kitale at 4.05pm on Tuesday.

— The plane had eight passengers and two crew members on board.

— The pilot and co-pilot were both women.

— The light craft was expected to fly for an hour and 15 minutes and touch down at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi at 5.20pm.

• Off-radar

— The plane was last seen on the JKIA radar at 17.20pm, the time it was supposed to land, according to Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCCA) and FlySax.

— It was flying at 11,000 feet above sea level, 74 kilometres from Nairobi.

— Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS), which is part of the search and rescue team, said there were strong indications that the plane went down in the Aberdares, Nyandarua County.

• Passengers and crew

— The condition of the eight passengers and crew is not yet known.

— Search and rescue teams, whose efforts have been hampered by bad weather in the Aberdares, are expected to give information once they reach the scene of the crash.

• Search

— Teams from KCAA, Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) and the Air Accident Investigation Division of Kenya (AAID) were dispatched immediately the plane was reported missing.

— Search in the Aberdares went into Tuesday night and was called off due to darkness and bad weather in the dense forest.

— Hunt for the plane has resumed but aerial search is still hampered by fog.

• The grey areas

— There are conflicting reports on the flight from the operator, FlySax, and the regulator, KCAA.

— KCAA, for instance, says the Cesna C208 craft was last seen on its radar at JKIA at 2.02pm on Tuesday, even before the plane took off from the Kitale airstrip at 4.05pm.

— However, FlySax, in its statement, says the plane was last seen on the radar at 5.20pm, the time it was supposed to touch down at JKIA.

— The other puzzle is the plane's flight path and how it found itself in the Aberdare region, which is considered dangerous.

— Sources, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the weight of the matter, told the Nation that the plane was to land at Wilson Airport but it was diverted to JKIA for reasons we are yet to establish.

— The plane was to hit the runway at JKIA in the eastern direction, which, according to other pilots the Nation spoke to, forced it to take an alternative route which is characterised by bad storms.

 More follows.

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