Missing Safari Express plane crashed in Serengeti, no survivors
Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. A Safari Express aircraft that went missing Sunday afternoon was found crashed in the park and its three occupants burnt beyond recognition. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
The aircraft that went missing Sunday afternoon crashed and burned a few minutes after taking off.
The remains of the Safari Express Limited aircraft, with the registration number 5Y-SXP, was sighted by the search-and-rescue team Monday morning at the Serengeti National Park, about 15 miles from the Kenya-Tanzania border. All the three occupants were burnt beyond recognition.
It had left Mwanza Airport in Tanzania on Sunday at around 7.26pm. However, the Area Control manager at the Jomo Kenyatta International (JKIA) control tower, Mr Peter Clever Davor, said that upon reaching an altitude of 14,000 feet, it lost communication with the radar at JKIA.
The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority has clarified that the aircraft, a Fokker F-27 MK-500, was supposed to land at JKIA at around 8.36pm.
“The aircraft did not (land) as scheduled and an inquiry (was) sent to Tanzania as set out in the international standards,” read the statement from the KCAA.
