A helicopter carrying tourists crashed on Wednesday near Mount Ololokwe in northern Kenya, killing everyone on board, authorities said.
The aircraft went down at 9:13 a.m. while flying from Loisaba to Ewasonyiro, roughly 250 kilometres north of Nairobi. Witnesses described black smoke and flames rising from the crash site at the foot of the mountain, a sacred peak for the Samburu people that rises to 2,000 metres. Rescue personnel have reached the scene.
The nationalities of the victims remain unknown, and the exact passenger count has not been officially confirmed, though reports indicated up to seven tourists were aboard. The Air Accident Investigation Department of the Ministry of Roads and Transport has opened an inquiry into the cause of the crash.
The incident follows a fatal helicopter crash in western Kenya on 1 March that killed six people, including a member of parliament.