On August 7, 2025, an AMREF Flying Doctors medical aeroplane went down in a residential area near Nairobi, killing six people. The Cessna Citation XLS that had left Wilson Airport at 2:15 p.m. heading to Hargeisa, Somaliland, made a crash landing in the Mwihoko area of Kiambu County a little while after takeoff.
As a result of the crash, all four people aboard the aircraft, including medical staff and the pilot, lost their lives. The destroyed plane smashed into a home, killing two people who were inside and seriously injuring two others who were on the ground.
The aircraft had a complete loss of both radio and radar contact with air traffic control shortly after the take-off.
The scene of the accident was visited by the emergency squad, including the Kenya Red Cross, who were there in a flash. The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority acknowledged the dysfunction in the plane and opened a probe into the mishap.
AMREF Flying Doctors responded that they are waiting for the authorized officials and giving them their full cooperation.
Moreover, the crash is a reminder that aviation safety issues continue to linger in the region of East African, where small airplanes accidents happen quite often, almost without fail.
Medical transfer, especially in urban areas that are very congested with people, is extremely vulnerable to such tragedies and this is precisely what was revealed by this fatal incident that took lives both on the air and on the ground.
