Ecuador’s director of national intelligence was also among those who died in the crash. The search and recovery efforts were being hampered by a fire at the site and the difficult terrain, officials said.

The country’s small-scale gold mining sector has been booming in recent years, leading to a series of deadly accidents.

Africans have turned to one of their own for fuel as the world’s supplies run low. But they are not the only ones with the continent’s richest man on speed dial.