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Three die in Arusha plane crash
2008-07-05 10:06:42
By Cynthia Mwilolezi, PST, Arusha
A month after a military helicopter crashed here, killing six people on board, yesterday another plane went down near Monduli, killing the pilot and two passengers.
The two passengers were senior officials in the ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism.
Arusha Regional Police Commander Basilio Matei said yesterday that the light aircraft, property of the Wildlife Department, lost contact soon after it took off at Kisongo airstrip near Arusha on Thursday.
The wreckage was found yesterday near Monduli, with the bodies of the three victims.
The plane was flying from Dar es Salaam to Loliondo and had landed at Kisongo airstripto refuel, but lost contact soon after it took off.
Matei said apart from Captain Pius Ngwalali, there were two passengers aboard the plane identified as Mariam Zakaria, assistant director in the wildlife department, in Dar es Salaam and Stephen Mahinya, another ministry official.
The RPC said people who were waiting to receive the wildlife officials at the Loliondo airstrip reported to the police, who immediately launched an operation to locate the plane.
He said police had asked people of the area to report once they spotted the missing plane.
He added that a police helicopter and another aircraft were dispatched to comb the area.
``We received a call from a good citizen in Monduli this afternoon (yesterday), saying the aircraft had been spotted near Monduli,`` Matei said, adding that the plane was not burnt as people had feared it would.
He said police were investigating the cause of the accident.
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