Blow to Red Cross staff as they run to rescue of FlySax plane

Three Kenya Red Cross staff are fighting for their lives in hospital after their vehicle crashed as they headed to Njambini area in Kinangop to help with the search of the missing FlySax plane.

The three patients in critical conditions at the Nakuru General Hospital were with eight others when their vehicle collided head-on with a lorry at Kariamu area near Ol Kalou town.

The hospital’s medical superintendent Samuel Mwaura on Wednesday told the Nation that one of the patients suffered spinal cord injuries and requires specialised care.

Another staff sustained a fractured leg while the other survived the morning crash serious head injures.

The other eight patients suffered soft-tissue injuries and were treated at the JM Memorial Hospital.

The Red Cross workers were headed to Njambini to join a government multi-agency team that has been deployed to locate the plane.

Teams conducting the search are drawn from the Kenya Air Force, Civil Aviation Authority, Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) and the Air Accident Investigation Division of Kenya (AAID).

The search, which was called off on Tuesday night, was yet to resume proper by Wednesday noon due to bad weather in Kinangop.

The multi-agency team was holed up in a strategic meeting at Njabini deputy county commissioner’s office.

The Nation counted tens of police officers and vehicles waiting for the cloudy and foggy weather to clear

A section of the search and rescue team was waiting to be airlifted from Njambini playground to the search zone.

The Cesna C208 craft, registration number 5Y-CAC, was flying from a Kitale airstrip in Trans-Nzoia County when it lost contact with control tower at 5pm Tuesday in the Aberdares.

The missing 12-passenger plane is operated by East Africa Safari Air Express, a subsidiary of Fly540.