[kellyhound]

Five US citizens and Ecuador's intel boss died in a remote area of Kenya on Wednesday when their helicopter crashed. Aviation accidents in Kenya have increased as tourism expands in the country.

all seven people on board a safari helicopter, six passengers and a pilot, were killed on Wednesday when the chopper crashed in the foothills of the popular but remote tourist destination, Mount Ololokwe.

Kenya's Civil Aviation Authority said the group's Eurocopter EC130 B4 helicopter crashed at 9:13 a.m. (0613 GMT) after departing the Loisaba wildlife reserve on route to the Ewaso Nyiro area in Samburu County north of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, adding that an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the crash.

An executive at Telemundo — a US-based Spanish-language television channel owned by Comcast/NBCUniversal — was reportedly among the victims.

Michele Sensi-Contugi, director of Ecuador's Strategic Intelligence Center was as well, and so was his wife, who also held US citizenship.

Sensi-Contugi, a former businessman, was a close friend and associate of Ecuador's right-wing President Daniel Noboa, who appointed him head of national intelligence in 2024.

Numerous travel companies offer helicopter tours to remote places like Mount Ololokwe.

But as Kenya's tourism sector has grown, so, too, has the frequency of helicopter crashes.

In February, another chopper went down in the wilderness, killing all six on board, including a parliamentarian.

[AllegedlyHere]

Kenya has some of the best coffee in the world. I doubt their aviation pilots and mechanics are on any “best of lists”, though. Probably the opposite, actually.

[yah]

It probably would've been safer taking a camel.

[scallywag27]

Bugger getting in a helicopter. If anything goes wrong you're F****D!

[Mr.NoCredit]

For all those people working in Intelligence they weren’t too smart getting on that helicopter.