One of the survivors of the ill-fated military aircraft which crashed at Sindar, Elegeyo-Marakwet County on April 18, 2024, and killed then Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) General Francis Ogolla alongside nine other officers has narrated the harrowing experience one year later.
Speaking during a solemn memorial at the Moi Airbase in Nairobi on Thursday, April 17, 2025, Colonel Kasaine ole Kuruta, who is a staff member at the Defence headquarters and was a survivor of the crash, together with army photographer Frankford Karanja Mogire, said their scars remain with them for a lifetime.
“To the families here today, thank you so much for letting us carry the memories of your loved ones. We remember them, not for how they died, but for how they lived, they smiled, and how they mattered,” Kuruta said, flanked by his wife.
“To my fellow survivor Colonel Karanja Mogire, brother, we carry scars, visible and invisible. But we carry more than just scars. We carry something deeper: A responsibility to truly live and live well.”
Kuruta also thanked his wife for taking care of him during his treatment and recovery at the Defence Memorial Hospital.
“I say thank you more so to my beloved wife, who during the entire time that I was receiving treatment at the Defence Memorial Hospital, stood by my bedside just to have an eye on me,” Kuruta observed.
Ogolla died at around 2:20 pm after the aircraft he was on crashed after it developed mechanical problems as a result of overheating in the engine, according to a report which was handed to President William Ruto on Friday, April 11, 2025.
Other army officers who perished in the crash alongside Ogolla were his bodyguard Cliphonce Omondi, his Aide-de-Camp Hillary Litali, Sergeant Rose Nyawira, Senior Sergeant John Kinyua, who was a flight technician, Brigadier Swaleh Said, who was the commander of the combat engineers brigade, Colonel Duncan Keittany, a staff officer at the Defence headquarters, Lieutenant Colonel David Sawe, who was a staff officer for infrastructure and the two pilots who were Major George Magondu and his co-pilot Captain Sora Mohamed.
Engine malfunction
Army photographer Mogire made his first public appearance during the launch of the KDF hospital Ulinzi Prime Health Services Fund (UPHSF) in Nakuru, a year after the crash.
While a section of opposition leaders claimed that the crash, which claimed the life of General Ogolla, was deliberate, the report absolved the pilots of any wrongdoing, pointing to engine malfunction.
“The helicopter then experienced a complete power loss, which was followed by a left yaw, drop in engine RPM (revolutions per minute), low RPM audio alarm and change in engine noise, as narrated by witnesses on the ground and accident scene reconstruction,” the report reads in part.
“Based on facts and evidence gathered, and indicated in the findings above, the board of inquiry is of the opinion that the Bell UH-1H-II (Huey) Helicopter KAF 1501 crashed due to engine malfunction.”