Residents of the area where the KDF helicopter crashed killing 10 military officers were among the first respondents to the accident.
One of the witnesses said that he was taking lunch after working on his farm when the helicopter took off from the area after camping there for a couple of hours.
While taking off, it however developed a mechanical hitch. According to the witness, the pilot circled around the forest in an attempt to land.
“When I looked at it, the propeller was not rotating. Some of the people directed the pilot to land on a nearby ground,” the witness said.
In the process of landing, the helicopter crashed and burst into flames.
“While attempting to save the lives of the occupants, the chopper burst into flames but we struggled and managed to evacuate all the occupants and placed their bodies on the ground,” the respondent told NTV.
When the chopper was taking off. Locals sent me this video pic.twitter.com/HVCptiKeY6
— Cyprian, Is Nyakundi (@C_NyaKundiH) April 18, 2024
During the rescue mission, two of the officers who were still alive shouted for help. One of them attempted to stand but the pain he was going through couldn’t allow him.
“During the rescue process, the military officials quickly arrived at the scene and told us to leave. We are the people who struggled with the incident. Even my clothes got burnt, I have since removed them. That fire was a huge one,” he added.
Another witness, identified as Bernard Kipkorir, who spoke to NTV said the military officers who were still alive were rushed to hospital for emergency medical attention.
“Most of the choppers were busy with their routine activities. Towards 2pm, we heard a loud bang. In the process we saw KDF chopper landing and all of sudden(burst into flames). We rushed to the seen and were able to save (some) lives of the personnel who were on board. We rushed them to hospital where they got emergency treatment and they were airlifted for further treatment. We have lost soldiers who were on a mission to save security issues along Kerio valley. It is a very unfortunate situation,” he said.