Nairobi: Kenyan Roads Minister Kipkalya Kones was among four people killed today in the crash of a Cessna aircraft in the west of the country, officials said.

Assistant home affairs minister Lonar Laboso was also among the fatalities in the accident in the Rift Valley region, a Kenya Civil Aviation Authority official said.

"We have confirmed that two of the dead were Kones and Laboso," he told AFP.

A second government official added: "We have confirmed that the two ministers have died."

The aircraft with one pilot, the two ministers and Kones s personal aide crashed into an unoccupied house in mid-afternoon near Narok town, about 220 kilometres southwest of Nairobi, police spokesman Charles Otieno said.

President Mwai Kibaki mourned the dead and announced that flags will fly half-mast until they are buried.

"Our country has lost leaders of immense potential at their prime age and with a promising future. Let us all remain united at this moment of sorrow as a nation," Kibaki said in a statement.

The two ministers were members of Prime Minister Raila Odinga s Orange Democratic Movement, which is in a coalition government with Kibaki s Party of National Unity.

Source : PTI