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A plane with 12 people on board has crashed near Kenya’s coast in Kwale County while flying to the world-famous Maasai Mara game park, the aviation authority has said.
The aircraft was believed to have been carrying tourists, and no-one seemed to have survived the crash, Kwale County Commissioner Stephen Orinde told the BBC.
It was flying from the popular beach resort of Diani to an airstrip in the park when it went down at 05:30 local time (02:30 GMT), the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) said.
Local media have published images of the plane in flames, with debris scattered at the site of the crash.
The KCAA said the emergency services were at the site, assessing the impact of the crash and its cause.
It did not give details of casualties or the nationalities of the 12 people on board.
Orinde told the BBC that the plane belonged to a safari aviation company and crashed about 10km (six miles) from Kwale town after flying out of Diani.
It was on its way to Kichwa Tembo, an airstrip in Maasai Mara.
He added that investigations into the cause of the crash were being hampered by bad weather.
“The weather is not very good here at the moment. Since early in the morning, it is raining and it is very misty, but we cannot preempt [the findings],” Orinde said.
In August, a light aircraft belonging to the medical charity Amref crashed on the outskirts of the capital, Nairobi, killing six people and injuring two others.
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