KCSE Invigilator Killed In Third Chopper Incident
The incident came merely hours after two helicopter incidents occurred in Wajir County hours apart, the first of which saw a chopper crash at Wajir Airport on its way to collect KCSE papers.
Marvin Chege 
A teacher has been killed after being struck by helicopter blades in Masalani, Ijara, Garissa County in a third successive incident involving choppers in less than a day.
Garissa County Commissioner Solomon Chesuti told the Nation on Tuesday, November 21 that the invigilator had just picked the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam papers when the incident occurred at the Deputy County Commissioner's office in Ijara town.
"There was an incident where a teacher died on the spot after being hit by the propellers of a helicopter. We have started investigations to know what he was doing near a helicopter that was taking off," Chesuti said.
The damaged tail rotor of a chopper which was involved in an incident at Garissa County on November 21, 2023. /NATION
Iman Falhada, the East Africa Legislative Assembly (EALA) Member of Parliament (MP), also confirmed the incident.
It was however unclear at the time of publishing this article what the victim was doing near the helicopter as it took off.
The County Commissioner added that the deceased had opened the examination storage container at the DCC office.
Witnesses claimed that the teacher was in a hurry to get on board in a bid to distribute examination materials in various schools in the Ijara sub-county before he was hit by the helicopter's tail rotor as he disembarked.
This is because he did not realize the rear propeller was running and the pilot had not warned the officials to approach the chopper from the front side as opposed to the rear one.
He was one of the officials on board the chopper. Normally, the rear propeller is not visible to laymen when a chopper is on and is always advisable to approach the chopper from the front side, according to one official.
A photo that Viral Tea had to crop due to its graphical nature showed the tail rotor of the helicopter, registered under number 5Y-HNB, sustained damage as a result of the incident.
The examiner’s materials lay next to the body following the tragedy. Police were called to the scene and moved the body to the mortuary pending an investigation as officials said there were plans to airlift the materials using a different chopper.
The teacher, according to preliminary reports, was a deputy head teacher at Masalani Secondary School.
The incident came after two helicopter incidents occurred in Wajir County hours apart on Monday, the first of which saw a chopper crash at Wajir Airport on its way to collect KCSE papers, leaving three people injured.
Moments later, several people were injured after a Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) helicopter crashed during takeoff at the same spot.
Wajir and Garissa have been among areas affected by among others heavy rains that have rendered most roads impassable and insecure.
The Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) has organized dozens of choppers to help in airlifting the materials and officials from one place to the other.
