11 killed in Kenya plane crash while en route to Maasai Mara National Reserve
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Nairobi (AP): A plane crash killed 11 people, mostly foreign tourists, in Kenya's coastal region of Kwale early Tuesday while en route to Maasai Mara National Reserve.
The airline, Mombasa Air Safari, said in a statement eight Hungarian and two German passengers were onboard, and that the Kenyan pilot was also killed.
The plane crashed in a hilly and forested area about 40 kilometres from Diani airstrip, authorities said.
The airline did not confirm what time the aircraft departed Diani airstrip, saying the pilot failed to communicate upon departure and the airport control tower tried to reach him for 30 minutes before the plane was located.
Investigating agencies were looking into the cause of the crash that happened at 05:30 am local time, Kwale County Commissioner Stephen Orinde told The Associated Press.
There was heavy rain in coastal Kenya at the time.
The aircraft burst into flames, leaving a charred wreckage at the scene, officials said. Witnesses told the AP that they heard a loud bang, and upon arriving at the scene, they found unrecognisable human remains.
The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority had earlier said that 12 people were onboard the Cessna Caravan-type aircraft.
The Maasai Mara National Reserve, located west of the coastline, is a two-hour direct flight from Diani, and is a popular coastal town known for its sandy beaches.
The reserve attracts a large number of tourists as it features the annual wildebeest migration from the Serengeti in Tanzania.
The Kenyan coastline's white sand beaches along the Indian Ocean attract tourists from all over the world.
According to the most recent safety oversight audit for Kenya posted on the International Civil Aviation Organisation site, from 2018, the country fell below the global average in accident investigation.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
