Ten tourists and local pilot die in plane crash in Kenya

Ten Hungarian and German tourists along with a Kenyan pilot were killed on Tuesday when the light aircraft they were travelling in crashed.

The plane was ferrying them from the resort town of Diani on the Indian Ocean to the world famous Maasai Mara National Reserve.

Officials said the plane burst into flames on impact, leaving a charred wreckage at the site in a hilly and forested area of Kenya’s Kwale region.

Witnesses said they heard a loud bang, and upon arriving at the scene, they found unrecognizable human remains.

Authorities initially said the crash happened at 05h30 local time, but later, the Kenyan transport minister gave the time of the incident as 08h35.

Operating airline, Mombasa Air Safari, said the pilot failed to communicate after taking off and that the control tower had tried to reach him for 30 minutes before the plane was located.

Investigators from the country's aircraft accident investigation department have been deployed to the site to begin an inquiry.

It said the Kenyan government's "highest priority" remains aviation safety.

The Maasai Mara National Reserve, located west of the coastline, is a two-hour direct flight from Diani.

The reserve attracts a large number of tourists as it features the annual wildebeest migration from the Serengeti in Tanzania.