Kenya mourns defence chief killed in helicopter crash
The Peninsula
Nairobi: Kenya began three days of mourning on Friday after its defence chief and nine other senior officers were killed in a helicopter crash, the la...
Nairobi: Kenya began three days of mourning on Friday after its defence chief and nine other senior officers were killed in a helicopter crash, the latest military accident involving a high-profile figure.
General Francis Omondi Ogolla, the Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces (CDF), was killed when his helicopter went down shortly after takeoff in a remote forested area of northwestern Kenya on Thursday.
"A distinguished four-star general has fallen in the course of duty and service of the country," President William Ruto said as he announced the deaths that evening.
He said the nation would observe three days of mourning from Friday, with the national flag flying at half-mast across the country and at Kenyan missions abroad.
Ogolla's family announced that a funeral would be held on Sunday at his home in Siaya County in the west of the country, followed by a memorial service in a Nairobi suburb on April 26.
