Seven people lost their lives following the crash of a safari helicopter in a remote area of northern Kenya, in the county of Samburu: among the victims of the accident, which occurred at 09:13 local time (08:13 in Italy), there is also an Ecuadorian citizen of Italian origins, Michele Sensi-Contugi, director of the South American country’s secret services. A lot of information is circulating about the episode, but not all of it has been confirmed: as reported by the Kenyan Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA), the aircraft was a Eurocopter EC130 B4 with serial number 5Y-GYM, a single-engine helicopter designed for panoramic tours and which can reach a speed of 250 km/h.
The helicopter crashed while carrying out a scenic flight in the north of the African country, from the Loisaba reserve towards the Ewaso Nyiro area, the river that crosses several natural reserves in the area.
David Nkoroi, Samburu police commander, sadly confirmed that none of the 7 occupants (6 passengers and 1 pilot) survived. The death of Sensi-Contugi, appointed director of the Strategic Intelligence Center in 2024, was confirmed by the presidency of Ecuador with a condolence message published on X. The Italian embassy in Kenya immediately took action to provide on-site assistance. The other victims were American citizens, as announced by the US State Department, which activated consular assistance through the embassy in Nairobi.
At the moment, the causes of the accident and the exact dynamics that led to the helicopter crash are not known: the KCAA authorities are already conducting the initial investigations.
It must be said, however, that events of this type are not so rare in Kenya, a country with an increasingly developed tourism industry that depends heavily on national carriers to reach remote locations: last February alone, a helicopter crash in Nandi county, in the Rift Valley, caused the death of six people, including a member of parliament. In 2024, however, the Chief of the Defense Forces died following the crash of an army helicopter carrying 11 people in the western part of the country, with only two survivors, while in June 2021 at least 10 soldiers lost their lives when their helicopter crashed during landing near the capital, Nairobi.
The context of this specific accident, however, was complicated: the helicopter actually crashed in an inaccessible area on the slopes of Mount Ololokwe, a very popular tourist destination, with images from the site showing the aircraft still on fire in the wooded area.
