Five Americans were among seven people killed when a tourist helicopter went down in a remote stretch of northern Kenya on Wednesday morning, Aug. 19, the U.S. State Department confirmed. Nobody survived. Six passengers and the pilot all died.
The aircraft crashed at 9:13 a.m. local time near Mount Ololokwe in Samburu County, north of the capital, Nairobi, according to Kenya’s Civil Aviation Authority. Samburu County police commander David Nkoroi told reporters everyone on board had been killed, and an investigation is underway.
The helicopter was a Eurocopter EC130 B4 registered 5Y-GYM, run by a local company called Lady Lori Helicopters. It was carrying guests of the luxury safari agency &Beyond on a charter flight when it came down near a spot called Kirish, close to the mountain. The Civil Aviation Authority said the flight was traveling from the Loisaba Conservancy toward the Ewaso Nyiro area, while the operator described the route as running from Suyian Conservancy toward Ololokwe.
The State Department first put the American death toll at four, then raised it to five later in the day. “We can confirm the deaths of five U.S. citizens in a helicopter crash in Samburu County, Kenya,” a spokesperson said, adding that the U.S. Embassy was in touch with local authorities and providing consular assistance. The dead included four Americans with deep South Florida ties, an Ecuadorian-American fashion designer, Ecuador’s spy chief, and the pilot.
The Telemundo executive who ran stations coast to coast
Jose Alberto Suarez, 55, was president and general manager of Telemundo stations in Orlando, Tampa and Fort Myers-Naples, Florida. A Florida native, he had more than 25 years in local media, including roles at NBC 6 Miami and Telemundo 51 Miami. His career stretched across the country before he settled in Florida.
From April 2019 through early 2024 he ran Telemundo 33 in Sacramento and Telemundo 51 in Fresno, and from 2023 Telemundo Las Vegas. He had earlier run Telemundo stations in Salt Lake City and San Antonio. NBCUniversal broke the news to staff in an internal memo, calling him “an exceptional colleague who cared deeply about his teams, the communities they served and the important role our stations play in people’s lives.”
A Miami stone crab entrepreneur
Roger Edward Duarte founded and owned George Stone Crab, a Miami company that ships stone crab to customers’ homes. He also co-founded the restaurant My Ceviche. He was traveling with a group of close friends that included Suarez.
His relatives, the Duarte and Valls families, described themselves as “devastated and heartbroken” in a statement. Duarte’s wife is Nicole Valls. “The magnitude of this tragedy is impossible to comprehend, and there are no words to express the depth of our pain,” the family wrote, asking for privacy as they grieve. Their statement named all six passengers and the pilot.
A married South Florida couple on safari
Henry Parra and Adam Hlavaty, married since March 2017, were also killed. Parra was an aviation software executive from Miami and a U.S. Navy veteran. The two loved to travel and gave back to causes at home, friends said.
Hlavaty co-founded Mrkt Group, a real estate development and design firm, and had earlier been a vice president at Pollo Tropical and at Benihana. He served on the Coral Gables Museum’s gala committee; the 2026 gala was held in January. A friend, Tarah Timothee, said the couple “enjoyed traveling the world” and were “both philanthropic.”
Ecuador’s intelligence chief and his wife
Michele Sensi-Contugi, the director general of Ecuador’s National Intelligence Center, died alongside his wife, fashion designer Stephany Hollihan. He had also served as Ecuador’s Minister of Government under President Daniel Noboa from April to August 2024. Hollihan, an Ecuadorian-American, founded the fashion and accessories brand Sensi Studio. She was counted among the five American victims; her husband was an Italian-Ecuadorian national.
Ecuador’s presidential office posted condolences Wednesday, and the country’s foreign ministry said its embassy in South Africa was coordinating the response because Ecuador has no diplomatic mission in Kenya. The ministry called his death a deeply felt loss for the nation and said he had worked with dedication on state security.
The pilot and a search slowed by fire
The pilot was identified as Josh Outram. The Samburu County police commander confirmed his name along with the six passengers, and the Duarte and Valls families named him in their public statement.
Rescue crews struggled to reach the wreckage. Witnesses cited by local media described a column of black smoke over the site, and the Kenya Red Cross said steep terrain and an active fire at the crash location slowed the search and recovery effort. A second team was dispatched from Isiolo to reinforce the operation, and the air charter company Tropic Air Kenya sent two of its own helicopters to help.
Video from the scene showed the helicopter’s wreckage scattered across the foothills, with parts of the aircraft strewn over the rugged ground below the mountain.
What investigators know so far
The cause has not been determined. Kenya’s Air Accident Investigation Department opened a formal inquiry, and the Civil Aviation Authority said it was coordinating with other agencies and stakeholders. Lady Lori Helicopters said the cause remained under investigation.
“Lady Lori Helicopters is deeply saddened to confirm that one of our aircraft, registered 5Y-GYM, was involved in an accident,” Lady Lori said in a statement. “Our deepest sympathies are with the guests, crew, their families and loved ones, and all those affected by this tragic accident.” &Beyond confirmed the aircraft was carrying its guests when it crashed near Kirish.
Kenya’s tourism business leans heavily on charter aircraft to carry visitors to hard-to-reach spots like Mount Ololokwe, a popular destination surrounded by private wildlife conservancies and remote landscape. In February, MP Johana Ng’eno was among six people killed when a helicopter went down in Nandi County, in the North Rift.
Mount Ololokwe rises sharply out of the Samburu plains, a flat-topped mountain that draws climbers and safari guests alike. Seven people had boarded that morning, and Kenyan police said not one of them walked away.
