{"id":43241,"date":"2026-08-20T10:07:05","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T08:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=43241"},"modified":"2026-08-20T10:07:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T08:07:05","slug":"kenya-tourist-helicopter-crash-kills-seven","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/kenya-tourist-helicopter-crash-kills-seven\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya tourist helicopter crash kills seven"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\" aria-hidden=\"true\" data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\">Seven people, including five Americans and Ecuador\u2019s intelligence head, were killed this Wednesday when the tourist helicopter, they were flying in crashed in Kenya\u2019s Samburu county.<\/p>\n<div id=\"x_ms-outlook-mobile-signature\">\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The aircraft was flying to the Loisaba Conservancy, a wildlife reserve and safari destination in northern Kenya, when it crashed, according to a preliminary report from Archers Post police station seen by\u00a0<i>Reuters<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">All seven people, six passengers and one pilot \u00a0were killed, authorities said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">A State Department Spokesperson said five Americans were among the dead, while Ecuador\u2019s presidential office confirmed intelligence head Michele Sensi-Contugi and his wife Stephany Hollihan, who held United States (US) citizenship were also killed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\u201cThe US Embassy is in touch with local authorities and is providing consular assistance,\u201d the State Department said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The preliminary police report listed Sensi-Contugi and his wife as tourists.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Luxury tour agency &amp;Beyond, which offered the excursion the tourists were on, said in a statement that the cause of the crash was yet to be determined.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The Kenya Red Cross said that search and recovery efforts were being hampered by difficult terrain and a fire at the crash site.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\u2014Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":32306,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-43241","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"All seven people, six passengers and one pilot \u00a0were killed, authorities said.","published_date":"","news_description":"All seven people, six passengers and one pilot \u00a0were killed, authorities said.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/43241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/43241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43242,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/43241\/revisions\/43242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=43241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}