Kenya: Lucky escape for 5 as copter crashes

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News Friday, May 19, 2000

Lucky escape for 5 as copter crashes

By NATION Team

Three Kenya army men and one United States mariner escaped death narrowly when their Puma helicopter crash landed in a marsh two kilometres from the Mombasa Airport.

The officers were on their way to North Malindi where Kenya, Uganda and Tanzanian defence forces are engaged in the Natural Fire 2000 war games exercise.

According to a Kenya Army official, the plane developed engine trouble immediately after take-off at 3.30 p.m.forcing the pilots to seek a "soft landing ". The manoeuvre apparently paid off and all the four officers escaped from the wreckage with minor injuries .

The plane crashed near the spot where an Egyptian cargo plane crashed two years ago killing all her crew and scattering its cargo of fish all over the landscape.

The helicopter was partly submerged in the soggy marsh but the officers according to eyewitnesses managed to extricate themselves from the wreck.

They were airlifted to Mombasa Hospital and Pandya Memorial Hospital but the Provincial Police boss Stanley Manyinya said that they were out of danger .

Members of the Press yesterday had another escapade with the Kenya military officials who confiscated the Nation TV and the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation cameras to vet what material they had .

They barred journalists from filming the wreck and even accessing it deep in the valley where it was located by cordoning off the area .

http://www.nationaudio.com/News/DailyNation/Today/News/News153.html

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), May 18, 2000


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