Seven people, including Ecuador’s intelligence chief Michel Sensi-Contugi and his wife Stephanie Holihan, were killed when a tourist helicopter crashed during a safari trip in Kenya’s Samburu County. The accident occurred at about 9:15 a.m. local time on Wednesday. The five other victims were US citizens, according to the report.

Kenya’s Civil Aviation Authority said the helicopter’s passengers were touring a wildlife conservation area and viewing its natural scenery. Images from the scene showed smoke rising from the crash site in the Mount Ololokwe forest, while Kenya Red Cross personnel approached burning wreckage. Sensi-Contugi, 44, had been appointed director-general of Ecuador’s Strategic Intelligence Center in 2024.

Ecuador’s government did not provide detailed information on his death, but the president’s office expressed condolences. One of the five US victims was NBCUniversal journalist Jose Alberto Suarez; the identities of the remaining four had not been fully released. A US State Department spokesperson confirmed the deaths of five Americans. The cause of the crash was not immediately known, and authorities have begun an investigation.