A small Cessna Caravan aircraft shuttling 10 foreign tourists to Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve crashed in the forested hills of the Kwale coastal region early Tuesday morning according to local authorities.
“The aircraft had 11 persons on board,” confirmed Kenya’s Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA).
“Sadly, there are no survivors,” said flight operator Mombasa Air Safari. In a statement, Chairman John Cleave said the passengers included eight Hungarians, two Germans, and a Kenyan captain.
Agencies report that the plane was on route to Kichwa Tembo, a private airstrip inside the park, when it went down around 5:30 a.m. (0230 GMT).
Officials say the crash occurred just after take-off, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Diani airstrip. Witnesses reported hearing a large bang then seeing a burst of flames.
Authorities say investigators found charred wreckage and unidentifiable human remains at the scene of the crash, adding that they will need time to piece together exactly what happened.
Mombasa Air Safari has said it is working hand in hand with civil aviation authorities to establish the cause of the crash.
Maasai Mara National Reserve is a popular tourist destination, where guests can observe the annual wildebeest migration of hundreds of thousands of wildebeest, zebras and gazelles from the Serengeti in Tanzania.
Dele Fashomi, seasoned journalist and communication teacher, is a holder of Master of Arts degree in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan in 1992/93.
Earlier, he had bagged a Bachelor degree from the same university in 1984, after which he proceeded to the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos, in 1990, for a postgraduate diploma in Journalism.
He had done many courses in communication, including the EU-BBC Editing Course in 2002.
Mr. Fashomi combines effectively the practice, research and teaching of communication. And to date, he has published two academic works in communication: Issues in Communication Technology and Policy (2010) and Economic and Social Issues in Advertising and PR (2013).
He had his first break in the Nigerian media in Concord Newspapers in 1990 and today, he has over two and half decades experience earned in several newspapers.
He has been part of many start-ups, such as The Republic (1987), The Comet (1999), The Anchor 2001 – 2002; Sun Newspapers (2003); Westerner newsmagazine (2005 – 2010) as Editor; National Life (2011) as Sunday Editor, and Newswatch Newspapers (2012- 2016) as Daily Editor.
Dele Fashomi is now the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Newstide247.com newspaper online, which he started in July 2015. He is also into biography writing, with many books in his trail, some of which he wrote alone and one he co- authored with his mentor, Mr Dare Babarinsa, entitled: Olabiyi Durojaiye – DARE TO BE DiFFERENT. He also guided and collaborated with Pa Olatunji Odusanya in writing his autobiography – AGAINST ALL ODDS. There are many other books in the works under his pen.
