At least six people were killed on Thursday when an air ambulance plane crashed into a residential neighbourhood in Kiambu County, just outside Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.

The aircraft, a Cessna Citation XLS operated by AMREF Flying Doctors, had taken off from Wilson Airport in Nairobi and was en route to Somaliland when it went down in Mwihoko, a densely populated area near the Nairobi-Kiambu border.

Witnesses told the Associated Press that the impact was devastating, with body parts scattered around the scene.

Kiambu County Commissioner Henry Wafula confirmed that four people on board the aircraft died instantly, while two others were killed inside a house struck by the plane.

The Kenya Red Cross dispatched rescue teams to the crash site. The humanitarian organisation initially reported that a helicopter was involved, but later confirmed it was a fixed-wing aircraft.

In a statement, AMREF Flying Doctors said it was “cooperating fully with relevant aviation authorities and emergency response teams to establish the facts surrounding the situation,” but did not specify the number of casualties or the possible cause of the crash.

Aviation authorities have cordoned off the crash site as investigators begin work to determine what led to the mid-air disaster.

The tragedy has cast a pall over Mwihoko, with residents describing scenes of chaos and grief as emergency crews worked to recover bodies and clear debris from the smouldering wreckage.