Woman, 70, killed in Lamu plane crash

A 70-year-old woman died and her husband sustained serious injuries when a private plane they were travelling in crashed in Lamu on Thursday.

The woman died on the way to hospital after the Cessna plane crashed as it landed at Kiwayu around 1.30 o’clock in the afternoon.

Lamu deputy police boss Stephen Limo said the couple was flying from Nakuru to their villa in Kiwayu. “Preliminary reports indicate that there was a whirlwind while the plane was landing and it was flung into the forest by the strong wind,” Mr Limo said.

“We suspect the woman might have died of shock as she had very few injuries,” he said, adding that the man was on treatment in hospital.

Scrap metal

Mr Limo said police had a hard time controlling a crowd that rushed to the scene to salvage scrap metal. He said the public would be barred from the scene until investigations were complete.

According to Mr Ali Shabwana, a resident in the vicinity of the crash, the aircraft lost control and landed on a tree. “We heard an explosion and rushed to the scene where we found the unconscious woman and her husband trapped in the wreck. We freed them before police arrived,” he said in a phone interview from Mkokoni Village, a few kilometres from the crash site.

Mr Shabwana said the woman recovered after receiving First Aid and he had been shocked to hear that she died on the way to hospital. He said village elders immediately barred residents from interfering with the scene until police arrived.