Five Americans and Ecuador’s intelligence chief were killed in a helicopter crash in Kenya on Wednesday.
There were seven people on board the plane when it crashed into Mount Olorokwe in central Kenya on Wednesday morning, the country’s civil aviation authority said.
Ecuadorian intelligence chief Michele Sensi-Contugui and his wife were killed in the crash, Ecuadorian state media said. American Spanish-language television company Telemundo said its executive Jose Suarez was among those killed in the crash.
Ecuador’s presidential office expressed its condolences to Sensikontugui’s family in a post Wednesday afternoon.
“The U.S. Embassy is in contact with local authorities and is providing consular assistance,” a State Department spokesperson said, confirming the deaths of five Americans. “I would like to express my heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of the deceased.”
The Kenya Red Cross said early Wednesday that “search and recovery operations are underway but are hampered by difficult access terrain and active fire at the crash site.”
“Additional teams have been dispatched from Isiolo to strengthen the operation,” it said in a post on X.
Civil aviation authorities said the aircraft, a Eurocopter EC130 B4, was flying from Loisaba Wildlife Reserve towards the Ewaso Ngiro River when it crashed.
Helicopter operator Lady Lori Helicopters said the plane was carrying passengers from luxury travel company & Beyond, but the cause of the crash has not yet been determined.
Manufactured by Airbus Helicopters but originally developed by Eurocopter, the single-engine helicopter has a maximum speed of about 178 miles per hour (286 kilometers per hour) and can carry five to seven people and a pilot.
Kenya’s Ministry of Transport is investigating.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
