Kenyan minister George Saitoti killed in helicopter crash

Kenyan Internal Security Minister George Saitoti has been killed in a helicopter crash, officials say.

They say Mr Saitoti and his deputy, Orwa Ojode, died when the aircraft went down west of Nairobi, bursting into flames as it hit the ground.

There is no word on the cause of the crash, in which six people were killed, including bodyguards and pilots.

Mr Saitoti, a former vice-president, had been planning to run in a forthcoming presidential poll. The 66-year-old was on his way to a security meeting when his helicopter crashed on Sunday morning.

A spokesman said the prime minister, Raila Odinga, had been informed of the deaths of Saitoti and his deputy, Orwa Ojode.

A former long-serving vice-president under the former president Daniel Arap Moi, Saitoti was also a presidential candidate in an election expected to be held by March next year.

A Reuters photographer counted three bodies at the scene of the crash in a forest in the Ngong area just outside Nairobi.

Debris from the burnt-out blue police helicopter was strewn in the brush where government officials and curious locals jostled to catch a glimpse. It was not immediately clear what caused the crash.

More people were feared to have been on board the helicopter. 

Sunday, 10 June 2012

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18384861