Published: 20:00 BST, 19 August 2026 | Updated: 20:02 BST, 19 August 2026
Forbes 30 under 30 chief executive Roger Duarte has been named as one of the seven people who died in a safari helicopter crash in Kenya on Wednesday.
Duarte, 42, was a popular and highly successful seafood entrepreneur from Miami, Florida, where he lived in a $2.8 million mansion with his wife and two young sons.
His heartbroken father, Roger Duarte Sr, confirmed his son's death in a phone call with the Daily Mail hours after the crash.
'I'm very devastated right now,' the 82-year-old said. 'I don't have the words to express my feelings.'
'We don't know much about what happened,' he added. 'They are investigating the crash.'
Duarte was among a group of six tourists including four Americans who were on board the chartered helicopter, which was flying from the Loisaba Conservancy to the Ewaso Nyiro area in Samburu County for a wildlife safari on Wednesday morning.
The aircraft plummeted to the ground in the rugged foothills of Mount Ololokwe in northern Kenya at 9.13am, according to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority.
All six of the tourists on board, along with the Kenyan pilot, perished in the crash. The cause of the tragedy is not yet known.
Forbes 30 under 30 chief executive Roger Duarte has been named as one of the seven people who have died in a safari helicopter crash in Kenya. He is pictured with his wife Nicole Valls
Duarte, 42, was a popular and highly successful seafood entrepreneur from Miami, Florida, where he lived in a $2.8 million mansion, pictured above, with his wife and two young sons
Duarte was among a group of six tourists on board the chartered helicopter, which was flying from the Loisaba Conservancy to the Ewaso Nyiro area in Samburu County for a wildlife safari on Wednesday morning when it crashed at 9.13am. The scene is shown above
Duarte left a lucrative career in investment banking at the age of just 24 to start his own business – George Stone Crab, an international delivery service of stone crabs from the Florida Keys.
The business earned him a place in the Forbes 30 under 30 list for 2016, and the magazine praised his company for becoming 'the largest distributor of Florida stone crabs to Latin America.'
The self-made millionaire has been pictured on the red carpet in Miami with his wife, Nicole Valls, 43, who he was married to for almost five years.