Police in Kenya say Defence Chief General Francis Omondi Ogolla was among more than 10 senior officers killed after a helicopter carrying them crashed in the country’s northwest and burst into flames.
A police official told AFP news agency that so far no survivor from the attack.
Also, the country’s president William Ruto confirmed that the country’s defence chief and nine other officers had died in the crash after visiting a school in the African nation’s remote west.
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“Today at exactly 2:20 pm our country has made a tragic loss of heroes, General Francis Omondi Ogolla died in a crash,” Ruto said.
The president, who had convened an urgent meeting of the National Security Council after news of the accident emerged, said nine other “gallant military personnel” on board were also killed while two survived.
Ogolla, 61, a trained fighter pilot, had only been in the post a year.
Ruto said the Kenya Air Force had dispatched an investigation team to establish the cause of the crash, which took place in Elgeyo Marakwet county, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) northwest of the capital Nairobi.