A helicopter on a scenic safari flight crashed in northern Kenya on Wednesday morning, killing all seven people on board. Among the dead were the head of Ecuador's National Intelligence Center, his wife, and five American citizens, the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority and news reports confirmed.
The Eurocopter EC130 B4, operated by the Kenyan charter firm Lady Lori Helicopters, went down at about 9:13 a.m. local time in the foothills of Mount Ololokwe in Samburu County, while flying from the Loisaba wildlife conservancy toward the Ewaso Nyiro river. One pilot and six passengers were aboard. There were no survivors.
The victims
The most prominent passenger was Michele Sensi-Contugi, 42, director of Ecuador's National Intelligence Center and a close associate of President Daniel Noboa. He was traveling with his wife, Stephany Hollihan Vasconez. "Today Michele and Stephany left us too soon," Ecuador's transport minister, Roberto Luque, said in a statement reported by Al Jazeera. His death is a significant loss for Ecuador's government at a time when the country is grappling with a prolonged internal security crisis.
Officials said five of the dead were US citizens. Four of them were identified as Jose Alberto Suarez, Roger Edward Duarte, Adam Martin Hlavaty and Henry Parra. Suarez was president and general manager of three NBCUniversal-owned Telemundo stations, Telemundo 31 in Orlando, Telemundo 49 in Tampa, and Telemundo Fort Myers-Naples. Duarte was a Miami restaurateur, his family confirmed. The pilot was named as Josh Outram, a Kenyan national.
The US State Department said the embassy in Nairobi "is in touch with local authorities and is providing consular assistance" to the victims' families.
A difficult recovery
Rescue teams from the Kenya Red Cross were deployed to the remote site, with reinforcements sent from Isiolo, but recovery work was hampered by difficult terrain and a fire that continued to burn at the crash site. Several bodies remained in the wreckage into Wednesday evening as flames prevented crews from completing the operation.
The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority said an investigation is under way, led by the country's Aircraft Accident Investigation Department. No cause has been established, and officials have not said what conditions the helicopter encountered before it went down.
Safari aviation under scrutiny
Light aircraft and helicopters are the workhorses of Kenya's high-end safari industry, ferrying visitors between remote conservancies and lodges that are difficult to reach by road. Mount Ololokwe, a flat-topped sacred mountain rising above the Samburu plains, is a popular scenic-flight destination.
The crash is likely to renew scrutiny of the sector's safety record as investigators examine the aircraft, its maintenance history and the weather along the route. For Ecuador, the loss of its intelligence chief on a foreign holiday adds a diplomatic dimension, and Quito can be expected to follow the Kenyan investigation closely as it establishes what brought the aircraft down.
