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A stunning revelation that the crew flying the late Internal security minister, Prof George Saitoti, were “incapacitated” by inhaling a poisonous gas after take-off, emerged on Wednesday.

An inquest heard that the aircraft may have been airborne “with a dead crew” moments before it came crashing down.

The gradual inhalation of carbon monoxide, which progressively ascended to a fatal degree after five to 10 minutes may have incapacitated the pilots, the commission set to establish the cause of the accident was told.

Dr Johansen Oduor, a forensic pathologist, testifying before the commission said autopsies revealed that one of the pilots died before the crash, while the other may have been totally incapacitated by fumes in the aircraft.

And with the new evidence emerging, there was a dramatic change in the course of the inquest as the commission started to grapple with the possibility of a fresh analysis of body tissues being conducted and the recall of previous witnesses who did parallel tests.

Pin-drop silence

The shocking revelation threw proceedings into a pin-drop silence at the KICC, Nairobi, before forcing an adjournment of five minutes to allow the pathologist to confirm whether the body parts were still available at the government laboratory for further analysis.

This emerged during a cross examination of the doctor by Saitoti family lawyer Fredrick Ngatia. The doctor could not, however, get his call answered at the government chemist, but he agreed to find out if the samples were still available.

Mr Ngatia told the commission that the crash may have occurred because of lack of oxygen in the aircraft.
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Judge Kalpana Rawal, who heads the commission, said that with the new evidence, “it was quite obvious that the government chemical analyst and the pathologist would have to be recalled” for re-examination.

The crash also claimed the lives of Prof Saitoti’s deputy Orwa Ojodeh, their bodyguards Thomas Murumi, Joshua Tonkei and the crew, captains Luke Oyugi and Nancy Gituanja. (READ: Emotions run high at officers’ mass)

“There were no traces of soot in captain Oyugi’s chest cavity, but the presence of carbon monoxide in his blood indicated he inhaled the fumes before he died,” the doctor said.

For the late Gituanja, the doctor said he found traces of soot in her system, adding that an earlier report submitted to the commission stating the absence of carbon monoxide in the blood may not have been “conclusive” as there was hardly any blood to sample.

“Her remains were badly charred, and we could only get very little blood,” he said. “However,” the doctor said “the presence of soot in her trachea indicated she inhaled smoke before the crash.”

The doctor said the autopsy focused on the crew, as demanded by procedure, but he went out of his way to sample Prof Saitoti’s remains upon insistence by a Dr Silverstein, privately hired by the minister’s family.

The minister also had soot in his system, the doctor said. The autopsies were conducted at the Lee funeral home, Nairobi, the commission heard.

The doctor reneged on his findings that indicated the pilots died from multiple injuries after he was shown a copy of a government analyst’s report showing that Mr Oyugi had a fatal dosage of carbon monoxide in his blood while Ms Gituanja had none.

He said he could have been more accurate if the report was submitted to him early.