'We did not know he was Ruto's pilot,' Gladys Magonga speaks of dead brother

The family of the pilot of the ill-fated helicopter that crashed in Turkana has described him as a hard working son who was kind and philanthropic.

The Deputy President William Ruto’s pilot Mario Magonga who died on Sunday evening was the main bread winner of the family that stays in a rental house in section six estate of Kitale town

During an interview with the mother of the 45 year old pilot, Mrs. Melania Magonga, told KNA that it was painful to lose her son who had promised to build her a house in a plot he had bought in Kitale.

“Before the news reached me in the morning my body was telling me that something was terribly wrong but was not expecting news of death,” she said.

She said her husband Brigadier Magonga was murdered in cold blood 25 years ago and life has not been easy since then.

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The helicopter is reported to have crashed at Central Island National Park in Lake Turkana at around 8 pm, killing all the five occupants.

Gladys Magonga, the pilot’s sister said that she received the news at around 5 am from her brother’s wife who lives in Nairobi.

Gladys described her brother as a reserved person who took his work seriously and did not involve the family in the work he was doing because of its nature.

“I was shocked and we had a litmus test in the morning when we were trying to keep information from our mother because she’s fragile since she has health issues. The news was all over, so we had to shut down television, keep radio away and diverted her phone calls,” she told KNA in an interview.

According to her, the family was not aware that the plane belonged to the deputy President and only learned of it after the accident. “I knew he was a pilot but did not know he was attached to the Deputy President,” she noted.

She appealed to the Deputy President for assistance in order to complete the projects that her brother had started and also assists in bringing up his three children.

Mario, a fourth born in a family of five; three boys and two sisters was working on getting a property for his three children to have a permanent home.

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The wreckage of the chopper and the bodies were found on Monday morning at around 4 am.

Turkana County Deputy Commissioner Alexander Motivo said two planes were seen on Sunday evening approaching Lobolo tented camp but one crashed in Lake Turkana.

“The tourists were set to travel on Monday to Central Island that is about 75 km from the showers of Lake Turkana but one plane went missing and it didn’t land at Lobolo,” he said.

The American tourists had visited Lobolo Tented Camp on the Island and were flying back when their plane crashed.

Photo by Moses Wekesa.