Helicopter Crash Kills Four Americans, Pilot in Kenya

By Staff, Agencies

Four Americans and their Kenyan pilot were killed when their helicopter crashed on a remote island in Lake Turkana in a national park in northwest Kenya, police said on Monday.

The aircraft came down in Central Island National Park at around 8 p.m. on Sunday, police said, killing all on board.

The cause of the crash had yet to be determined.

“Available information indicates that two helicopters had landed earlier at Labolo tented Camp on the National Park’s Island, however one managed to clear the area safely,” Kenya’s National Police Service said on its Twitter feed.

Police did not identify the victims, saying next of kin had to be notified first.

However, reports identified Captain Mario Magonga – Deputy President William Ruto’s pilot – was the pilot of the chopper.

The Kenyan National Police Service said in a statement, “Available information indicates that two helicopters had landed earlier at Lobolo tented camp on the National Park’s Island, however one managed to clear the area safely.”

“Security personnel dispatched to the scene confirmed that among the five were four Americans and the Kenyan pilot,” the statement added.

Security teams have been dispatched to the scene to assist with recovery of the wreck and the bodies, police said.

Kitutu Chache South MP Richard Onyonka, a relative of the deceased, said the chopper Magonga was flying went off radar near Lake Turkana.

He said following a search and rescue mission, the wreckage of the aircraft and the pilot's body were located on Monday at 2am.

"He (Magonga) went off the radar and they were unable to trace him until about 2am when they found his wreckage. The only thing we know is he was the one flying the helicopter," he told NTV.

The crash comes less than a month after three Americans were among five who died in a plane crash in the west of the country.