BRITISH SERVICE PERSONNEL CHEAT DEATH AS THEIR HELICOPTER EMERGENCY LANDS
(Posted 10th January 2015)
(Picture courtesy of Ithe Wa Wambui / Airline Crew of East Africa)
Britain maintains an army training base in Kenya near Nanyuki and thousands of service personnel have over the years rotated through various courses, preparing them for deployment or just to keep their skill levels up.
Yesterday did four of them escape narrowly when their helicopter developed technical problems – some information speaks of a loss of part of the rear rotor blade – and had to emergency land in a hurry to avoid worse. There was some confusion over them sustaining or not sustaining injuries but thankfully there were no casualties from the incident.
The three male and one female on board were on a routine flying mission over the wooded slopes of Mt. Kenya when the incident occurred, forcing the aircraft to set down in a clearing, almost miraculously avoiding striking nearby trees. The location was given as the Gathiuru section of the forest. Authorities reportedly responded promptly when the reports came in and secured the site together with their British colleagues from the training base.
The Nanyuki area, bordered on one side by Mt. Kenya and on the other by the Aberdare Mountains, is home to several tourism attractions. The highly acclaimed Ol Pejeta Conservancy (www.olpejetaconservancy.org), a sprawling mixed livestock and wildlife ranch of some 90.000 acres in size, lies right in the centre of it but several other rhino sanctuaries and conservancies, like the Segera Retreat, a 50.000 acre wildlife estate (www.segera.com) are also found in the area. Tourism, besides agriculture, ranks highly in the economic activity list for the county and British service personnel are known to take time out before returning home to head out on safari, climb Mt. Kenya or partake in other adventure activies on offer.
For more information about Destination Kenya click on www.magicalkenya.com
