Kajiado plane crash kills student pilot, flight instructor

Two people have died after a light aircraft operated by the Kenya School of Flying crashed in Kipeto, Kajiado West Constituency.

The aircraft went down near the Kipeto Wind Power Project while on a routine training flight, killing both people on board, a student pilot and a flight instructor.

Kajiado West Sub-County Police Commander Maurine Jepkemboi confirmed the incident. She said preliminary reports indicate that the aircraft crashed in the hilly area of Kipeto.

Emergency response teams and local residents rushed to the scene following the crash. Both occupants had already succumbed to their injuries by the time help arrived.

Officials have notified aviation safety authorities, who are expected to investigate the circumstances of the crash to establish its cause.

This is not the first aviation tragedy Kenya has recorded in recent months.

In August, a helicopter taking tourists on a safari crashed in a remote part of northern Kenya, killing all seven people on board, including an Ecuadorian official and an American journalist.

The helicopter crashed at 9:13am local time while flying from the Loisaba Conservancy to the Ewaso Nyiro area in Samburu County.

The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority confirmed the crash in a statement, saying an investigation was underway.

Helicopter crashes have occurred with increasing regularity in Kenya, a country whose vibrant tourism industry relies heavily on domestic carriers to ferry visitors to remote destinations like Mount Ololokwe.

Six passengers and the pilot were on board that helicopter.

Samburu Police Commander David Nkoroi told reporters that all seven people had died, though he did not immediately reveal their identities.

Later that Wednesday, Ecuador's Transport Minister Roberto Luque confirmed that the country's intelligence chief Michele Sensi-Contugi and his wife, Stephany Hollihan, were among those killed.

"Today Michele and Stephany left us too soon. Thinking of their family, especially their children and parents," Luque wrote on X.

Sensi-Contugi, 42, was a former businessman appointed head of Ecuador's National Intelligence Center in 2024. He was a close associate of right-wing President Daniel Noboa, whose country is currently mired in a security crisis.

US broadcaster NBCUniversal also confirmed that its journalist Jose Alberto Suarez, president and general manager of Telemundo 31, Telemundo 49 and Telemundo Fort Myers–Naples, was among those killed.