Kenya helicopter crash kills five Americans, Ecuador official

Seven people on board a helicopter died when it crashed into a Kenyan mountainside on Wednesday.

The aircraft hit Mount Ololokwe in central Kenya Wednesday morning, the country’s civil aviation authority said. Director general of Ecuador’s intelligence agency, Michele Sensi-Contugi Ycaza, and his wife, Stephany Hollihan, were both among the seven dead, the Ecuador National Assembly shared on Wednesday, calling the crash an irreparable loss. The country’s presidential office sent condolences to Sensi-Contugi Ycaza’s family Wednesday afternoon.

The Kenyan Red Cross reported that though search-and-rescue efforts were underway, they were hampered by difficult, hard-to-access terrain and an actively raging fire at the crash site. An additional rescue team had been dispatched from nearby Isiolo, the Red Cross said. The civil aviation authority was also coordinating with relevant agencies, and offered its deep condolences to the families of those affected. The helicopter was a Eurocopter EC130 B4 operated by Lady Lori Kenya Ltd. and on a flight from Loisaba to Ewasonyiro when it went down, the aviation authority reported.

The cause of the crash has not yet been determined.