Six die in Kenya flash flood

NAIROBI, Sept 02 (AFP): Kenyan authorities said on Monday they have recovered the bodies of six of seven members of a tour group who were killed in a flash flood at the Hell's Gate national park.

"Six bodies of the flash flood victims have been recovered, leaving one tourist missing," the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said on Twitter.

The KWS manages the park, the location of the 2003 film "Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life".

It said the search and rescue operation was continuing and the authorities have sought to contact the next of kin.

Six tourists - five Kenyans and a foreigner - and their local guide were swept away in the flash flood as they were visiting the park on Sunday, part of a group of 13.

Two survivors from the group alerted park rangers who sent out a search party.

The deep gorges of the Hell's Gate park are often lashed by heavy rains. In 2012, seven young Kenyans drowned at the same spot in the Ol Jorowa gorge in the south of the park.

The tour guides have "been trained to detect storm water flowing downstream towards the gorge," the KWS said.