Overview
- A Eurocopter EC130 B4 operating a luxury safari charter crashed near Mount Ololokwe in Samburu County on Wednesday, killing all seven people on board.
- Among the dead were Michele Sensi-Contugi, director of Ecuador’s Centro Nacional de Inteligencia, and his wife Stephany Hollihan, with U.S. officials confirming multiple American fatalities though reports differ on whether four or five citizens died.
- Rescue and recovery teams faced steep, remote terrain and an active fire at the site that slowed access and required drone support and reinforcements from nearby counties.
- Kenya’s Department of Investigation of Air Accidents is leading a formal probe into the 5Y-GYM crash and has not yet determined a cause.
- Ecuador declared three days of national mourning, named an acting CNI director, and is coordinating repatriation through its embassy in South Africa while the U.S. Embassy provides consular assistance.