Five people are dead after a helicopter crashed on Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro, the Civil Aviation Authority said on Thursday.
The Tanzania National Parks Authority said the victims were a Tanzanian guide Innocent Mbaga, a 32-year-old doctor Jimmy Daniel, a Zimbabwean pilot living in Tanzania Constantine Mazonde, 42 and two Czech tourists, David Plos and Anna Plosova, both 30, who were on board the Airbus helicopter when it crashed.
The helicopter crashed near the mountain’s Barafu camp on Wednesday, Tanzania’s Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement.
The Mwananchi newspaper and East Africa TV, citing Kilimanjaro region’s head of police, reported that the helicopter was on a medical rescue mission before it crashed.
Musa Kuji, the commissioner for Tanzania National Parks, told reporters that the Czech tourists had been on a six-day trip that began on Saturday.
They were on their descent from the mountain when the helicopter crashed around the Barafu Camp area in Kilimanjaro National Park, Mr. Kuji said.
The commissioner said Tanzanian authorities were coordinating with the relevant embassies to return the victims’ bodies.
Meanwhile, the Aviation Authority announced on Thursday that an investigation had been launched, in accordance with international aviation safety standards, to determine the circumstances and probable cause of the crash.
The helicopter crashed near the mountain’s Barafu camp on Wednesday, Tanzania’s Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement
Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa and one of the highest free-standing mountains in the world
Although around 50,000 tourists climb Kilimanjaro annually, aircraft accidents are rare on Mount Kilimanjaro, with the last recorded incident in November 2008, when four people died.
Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, is nearly 6,000 metres (20,000 ft) above sea level. The crash happened between 4,670 and 4,700 metres, Mwananchi reported.
The helicopter belonged to a company called Kilimedair, officials said.
The company’s website says it offers a speedy descent service for climbers who have reached Kilimanjaro’s peak and find the ‘traditional two-day descent’ challenging, offering flights that allow them to ‘skip the long trek’.
Kilimedair are yet comment on the incident.
