Air accident investigators inspect a crashed plane at the Empakaai Crater, a caved volcanic caldera in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in northern Tanzania, on Nov. 16, 2017. A team of air accident investigators from the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication arrived in northern Tanzania's region of Arusha on Thursday to ascertain cause of a light aircraft that crashed into Empakaai Crater. (Xinhua)
ARUSHA, Tanzania, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- A team of air accident investigators from the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication arrived in northern Tanzania's region of Arusha on Thursday to ascertain cause of a light aircraft that crashed into Empaakai Crater within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
Eleven people were killed on Wednesday when a small plane crashed into the Empakaai Crater, a caved volcanic caldera in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in northern Tanzania.
Their arrival comes as Coastal Aviation, owner of the crashed plane, expressed their intention of hiring the services of an external investigator to probe the accident.
In a statement released by the flight operator on Wednesday evening, the company said it will be appointing its external investigator to look into all the aspects to ensure that a similar accident doesn't happen again.
Paul Kweka, Acting Chief Air Accident Investigator from Tanzania's Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication, said the team was already in the region and is due to meet with Coastal Aviation company officials to start the investigations into the cause of the accident.
The Accident Investigator maintained that it was too early to establish the cause of the accident, but was optimistic that they will ascertain what caused the light aircraft to crash into the 300-meter high crater.
"We've already located the aircraft's wreckage and the bodies have been recovered already...we are due to meet the company's officials and start our investigations," he said.
According to Kweka, once compiled, the report on the actual cause of the accident will be sent to the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication.
The bodies of the victims had already been retrieved from the crash site and were being ferried by road to Mount Meru Regional Hospital for preservation before being handled to their loved ones.
