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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All you need to know about India’s first Sunday Budget
New Delhi: This year’s Budget is drawing special attention because it is being presented on a Sunday. While Sunday is normally a holiday, Parliament will function as usual for the Budget presentation.
India's Union Budget is presented on February 1 each year, a practice that began in 2017. The idea behind this change was to give Parliament enough time to discuss, approve and put Budget proposals into action before the new financial year begins on April 1. Earlier, Budgets were usually presented at the end of February.
A similar situation arose in 1999, when February 28 fell on a Sunday. To avoid presenting the Budget on a holiday, then Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government, presented it a day earlier on February 27, a Saturday.
Until 1999, Union Budgets were presented in the evening, around 5 pm. This practice came from British colonial times, when announcements were timed to suit working hours in London.
Yashwant Sinha changed this tradition by presenting the Budget at 11 am. Since then, 11 am has remained the standard time for Budget presentations in India.
