Ecuador intel chief, five Americans killed in Kenya tourist helicopter crash

NAIROBI - Ecuador’s intelligence chief and five US citizens died when a helicopter carrying tourists crashed in central Kenya on Aug 19, killing all seven people on board, officials said.

The accident happened at 9:13am local time (2.13pm in Singapore), in Samburu county, north of the capital, Nairobi, according to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA), after the aircraft departed from the Loisaba wildlife reserve.

Images shared by the Kenya Red Cross on X in the afternoon showed a crash site in flames.

“There were seven people on board the helicopter, one pilot and six passengers,” Fredrick Kabunge, director of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Department (AAID), told AFP, confirming earlier information from an anonymous aviation source that no one survived.

Kabunge did not provide the identities or nationalities of the dead, including the pilot.

But Ecuador’s Transport Minister Roberto Luque said the Latin American nation’s intelligence chief Michele Sensi-Contugi and his wife were among those killed.

“Today, Michele and Stephany left us too soon. Thinking of their family, especially their children and parents,” Luque wrote on X.

Sensi-Contugi, 42, is a former businessman appointed as head of Ecuador’s National Intelligence Centre in 2024. He was a close associate of right-wing President Daniel Noboa, whose country is mired in a security crisis.

The US State Department said that five American citizens died in the crash.

The US Embassy in Kenya is in contact with local authorities and is providing consular assistance, a department spokesperson said in an email received by AFP.

The spokesperson expressed US condolences to the families and loved ones of those who died, without identifying them, citing privacy concerns.

Kabunge said the “helicopter was transporting tourists for a scenic flight”.

In a video shared on X, black smoke could be seen billowing into the sky at the foot of Mount Ololokwe, where the crash occurred.

Mount Ololokwe is a sacred mountain for the Samburu people, its summit rising 2,000m above sea level, and it is a popular hiking destination. Companies offer helicopter flyovers.

The cause of the crash has not yet been established, with KCAA saying investigations were under way.

The Kenya Red Cross said that response operations were ongoing, “hampered by difficult terrain and an active fire at the crash site.”

In March, a helicopter crash in western Kenya killed six people, including a member of congress. AFP