Kenyan jetliner crashes in Cameroon

YAOUNDE, Cameroon – A Kenya Airways jet that took off during a midnight storm crashed early Saturday with 114 on board after sending out a distress signal over remote southern Cameroon, officials said. Nearby villagers reported hearing an explosion and seeing a flash of fire.

The jet bound for the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, went down near the town of Lolodorf, about 90 miles southeast of the coastal city of Douala, where it had taken off after midnight, said Alex Bayeck, a regional communications officer.

There was no word on survivors, Bayeck said by telephone en route to the crash site. He said search planes were flying over the forested area where the airliner gave off a distress signal but no wreckage has been spotted.

Residents in the area, which has few roads and is dotted by small villages, reported hearing a “large boom” during the night, and some described a flash of fire that looked markedly different from lightning, Bayeck said.

Kenya Airways CEO Titus Naikuni said the plane, which was almost new, took off an hour late because of rain. Douala airport officials confirmed thunderstorms at the time of takeoff but said that was unlikely to have been the sole cause of the accident.

“There was a thunderstorm, but there were other planes that left after (the Kenya Airways flight to Nairobi) that had no problems,” said Thomas Sobatam, head of weather observation at the airport.

Kenya’s transport minister, Ali Chirau Makwere, said it was too early to determine what happened.

The Boeing 737-800 was carrying 114 people, including 105 passengers from at least 23 countries, Kenyan airline officials said. A Nairobi-based Associated Press correspondent, Anthony Mitchell, was believed to be among them.