Nairobi — The Air Accident Investigation Department (AAID) has commenced investigations into the death of a teacher hit by helicopter's tail rotor blade in Masalani, Garissa County.
Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) on Tuesday expressed "regret" over the incident that involved a helicopter registered as 5Y-HNB.
KCAA Director General Emile Nguza Arao said the probe, spearheaded by AAID, will also involve personnel from the National Police Service among other agencies.
"Safety of the public, property, and operations remains paramount to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority," he said.
KCAA is responsible for regulating the aviation industry in Kenya and for providing air navigation services in the Kenya flight region.
During the Tuesday incident, authorities said, the said aircraft had gone to collect some examination materials from the Ijara subcounty Kenya National Examination Council's (KNEC) container for onward transmission to Garissa KNEC headquarters.
The incident was confirmed by Police Spokesperson Resila Onyango who described it as unfortunate.
"It is true we have had an incident where a teacher died after being struck by helicopter blades," she told Capital FM News on phone.
The 35-year-old victim has been identified as the Deputy Head Teacher of Masalani Primary School.
The victim met his death when he was hit by the tail rotor on the head and his right hand which was holding the phone.
"The deceased fell on the ground and died on the spot," read a police report in part.
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Among the items recovered at the scene are the KNEC container key which had been cut in two pieces, KNEC documents, personal items of the deceased and a laptop.
The scene was documented and processed by authorities.
The deceased's body has been moved to Ijara Sub county hospital for postmortem and preservation.
Multiple helicopter incidents
The ongoing heavy rains across the country has seen increased use of helicopters to deliver supplies and examination materials in different parts of the country that has been rendered inaccessible.
The incident in Garissa marks the third aviation mishap in under 24 hours in the North Eastern region.
On Monday, two helicopters crashed in separate incidents in the neighboring Wajir County.
The first incident involved a helicopter assigned to support KCSE logistics which crashed at the Wajir International Airport while taking off while the second involved a Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) logistics helicopter which crashed in Buna, Wajir North, where it flew to deliver relief supplies to residents affected by floods.
