A helicopter crashed on Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro, killing five people, the civil aviation authority said this Thursday, while local media reported that the aircraft was on a medical rescue mission.

The helicopter crashed near the mountain’s Barafu Camp on Wednesday, Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement.

Mwananchi newspaper and East Africa television, citing Kilimanjaro region’s head of police, Simon Maigwa, reported that the helicopter was on a medical rescue mission.

Among the dead were a guide, a doctor, the pilot and two foreign tourists, Mwananchi cited Maigwa as saying, without giving the tourists’ nationalities.

Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, is nearly 6 000 meters (20 000 ft) above sea level.

The crash happened between 4670 and 4700 metres, Mwananchi reported.

Around 50 000 tourists climb Kilimanjaro annually.

–Reuters–