Two people died when a small training aircraft crashed on Friday near wind turbines in Kipeto, a hilly area of Kajiado County southwest of Nairobi, local police said. Kajiado West police commander Maureen Kuto said the aircraft went down close to the turbine site; authorities have not released the victims’ identities.
Video and images from the scene show the wreckage split into several large sections scattered across a dry field, with red-and-white tape cordoning off the area and personnel in reflective jackets working among the debris. Dozens of uniformed schoolchildren gathered nearby to watch emergency workers at the site.
“We are really shocked because this crash happened next to the school,” resident Duncan Akaranga said. He said the locality contains several schools and many students, and that the collision could have produced a much larger catastrophe had any of the aircraft’s fragments or a fire reached the compounds.
Witnesses said morning mist in the area reduced visibility before the aircraft went down. The mist was reported by people at the scene, who described thick conditions that limited sight lines as first light broke over the hills.
Police secured the crash site while personnel documented the wreckage and managed the crowd of onlookers. Neither the flight school nor any regulatory agency has been named in statements released so far, and no casualty list has been published.
The deaths remove two members from an aviation training operation and leave families without public identification of the victims. Local officials and emergency crews continue to control access to the scene as the situation is assessed and any further statements are prepared.
