Four from South Florida among seven killed in Kenya helicopter crash during safari trip

Four people with ties to South Florida were among seven people who were killed when their helicopter crashed in Kenya during a safari trip on Wednesday.

Of the seven people on board, five were Americans.

The helicopter crashed in a remote area of Kenya on Wednesday morning, and the tragedy is hitting close to home for friends who told CBS News Miami that they're still struggling to process the sudden loss.

Shed Boren, a friend of Henry Parra and Adam Hlavaty, says the couple had been looking forward to the safari trip.

Boren says Adam was "the all-American kid from the Midwest," while Henry "was a Cuban American from Westchester."

"They were super excited," Boren said. "They were going with like 25 friends."

Jose Suárez was among those friends.

Samantha Diaz, a Telemundo 49 Tampa anchor and colleague of Suárez, says she spoke with him days before the crash.

"We talked two days ago," Diaz said. "He was about to hop on that helicopter and he told me, we are going to a safari, we're going to see the animals."

Diaz says Suárez left a lasting impression on the people who worked with him.

"That was his slogan, inspire, protect, and educate," she said.

Suárez spent nearly two decades working for Telemundo and NBC. He was from Miami and also worked at CBS Miami in the 1990s.

Roger Duarte was also among those killed.

Duarte was the founder of George Stone Crab and other restaurants in South Florida. He was married to the granddaughter of Felipe Valls Sr., the founder of Versailles.

Lee Schrager, a friend of Duarte, said, "He was just a nice, kind, good person who loved good food and loved a good time and really loved his family."

Duarte graduated from Gulliver Preparatory School in 2002.

Another victim, Michele Sensi Contugi, also attended Gulliver, graduating in 2000. He was Ecuador's intelligence chief.

Sensi Contugi was traveling with his wife, Stephany Vasconez, who was also killed in the crash. The helicopter's pilot was also killed.

As loved ones begin to grieve, friends say they are holding onto memories of the people they lost.

"And then we get a call, and it just takes the air out of a balloon," Boren said. "It dawned on me, I remember how compassionate they were to me when I was sick, when I thought my days were numbered, and here are those people full of life, full of promise, full of hope, full of all sorts of great futuristic things, and now their life is snuffed out in one instant."