- Area Chief Kiliontota Tarus of Kaben location told KTN that farmers witnessed the crash, after hearing unusual sounds from the aircraft.
Image: ICG
Witnesses of the KDF chopper crash in Sindai, Elgeyo Marakwet County on Thursday, April 18 have spoken to media houses about the events before the accident.
A man told NTV Kenya that he was seated nearby at lunchtime Thursday relaxing when he saw what appeared to be a helicopter experiencing challenges with its propeller.
"Tulikuwa tunafanya kazi yetu kwa shamba karibu saa nane na dakika kumi na sita. Ndege ikakuja tu hivi" indicating approaching scene "vile tuliangalia ilikuwa propeller haizunguki. Wakati nafikiria inashuka, kumbe inaanguka, ikakuja hivi tu straight ikaanguka ikalala hapo chini."
"We were doing our work in the field at around lunchtime. The plane just came like this" indicating approaching scene "when we checked, the propeller was not rotating. When I thought it was going down, it was falling, it just came straight and fell and lay down there."
He said they ran towards the chopper to see how they could help.
"Tukakimbia tukienda kuvuta mahali kuna moto kubwa na tukaskuma, huko inalipuka pummm, tuka nganganana mpaka tukatoa watu wote tukapanga "
Other official help arrived as they arranged the bodies.
In another witness account on KTN, a man told how locals responded.
Area Chief Kiliontota Tarus of Kaben location told KTN that farmers witnessed the crash, after hearing unusual sounds from the aircraft.
"Ndege wakati ilitoka Cheptulele Boys, ili toka tu ikiwa imeshika moto, mahali ingine imekatika. Ndio tukavunja mlango tukatoa watu. Walikuwa wakifika chini kama wamekufa, lakini wawili walisurvivie. Hali yao ilikuwa mbaya sana. Lakini wale wengine hawakuwa mbyaa sana walikuwa waongea. Tulijaribu kuweka upepo hivi lakini hakuna," he said.
(When the plane left Cheptulele Boys, after a few minutes, it was on fire, another part was broken. We broke the door and took people out. They were dead by the time we laid them on the ground, but two survived. Their condition was very bad. But the others were not too bad, they were talking.)
Officers have been sent to the ground to investigate, as locals share their accounts.
Gilbert Ruto who saw how it went down, said they broke the door of the helicopter to help get them out.
"It was flying very low. That is when we realized something was wrong."