NAIROBI, Kenya, April 10 (UPI) -- An aircraft carrying Kenyan politicians trying to mediate a tribal conflict crashed and burned in a torrential downpour Monday, killing 14 people.
The military plane crashed into a hill as it approached the northern town of Marsabit, 280 miles northeast of Nairobi. The dead included all the members of parliament representing the Moyale and Marsabit districts and Regional Development Assistant Minister Titus Ngoyoni and Assistant Internal Security Minister Mirugi Kariuki, the Kenya Times reported. An Anglican bishop, William Wago of Marsabit, was also among the dead.
Four people, including the two pilots, survived the crash, but rescuers were unable to immediately recover the victims, the BBC said.
"Fourteen people have been burned beyond recognition," a Red Cross official at the scene said. "I can see their bodies are still lying (there) because for now we don't have gloves and body bags."
The politicians on board the plane were traveling to the region to mediate a bloody feud between rival communities near the border with Ethiopia, the Kenya Television Network reported.
