20 hours later, search for FlySax plane yet to start in Aberdares

Search for the missing FlySax plane is yet to start proper in the Aberdares, nearly 20 hours after it was reported missing.

Shocked residents of Njabini on Wednesday expressed concerns over the delayed rescue mission.

Ms Jane Wangeci, a resident, said the response was "too slow", and manual methods should have been mobilised to locate the craft.

“We have been in the forest before. They should mobilise residents to walk in the forest instead of these delays,” she told the Nation.

“The relatives of the victims are waiting and must be psychologically tortured.”

Mr Job Wambugu, a resident, said the area experienced extreme weather at the time the plane disappeared.

“It was raining with a heavy mist by the time we left the offices on Tuesday evening,” he said.

“Around the same time the plane is said to have disappeared, the weather was extremely bad."

By noon, Senior County Security officers, led by County Commissioner Boaz Cherutich, were still holed up in a meeting at Njabini deputy county commissioner's office.

Also present in the meeting was Mr Pius Masai, the National Disaster Management Unity deputy director.

A source at the venue told the Nation that the meeting started at around 6am, while a rescue chopper from the Kenya Wildlife Service arrived shortly before 8am.

There is a heavy presence of armed police officers in Njambini, with four-wheel vehicles waiting to be sent to the forest.

The rescue team plans to use three entrances into the dense Aberdare Forest— Mutubio, Githobokonyi and Kiburu.

Mr Cherutich said a command centre will be erected at Njabini Boys High School, about two kilometers from the deputy commissioner’s office.

In an earlier interview with the Nation, KWS assistant director in charge of mountain areas Simon Gitau attributed the delays to bad weather.

Mr Gitau said the last signals were located around Njabini area, and that is where the search teams will concentrate their efforts once the skies clear.