Kobe Bryant and Daughter among 9 Dead in Helicopter Crash

Basketball legend Kobe Bryant and one of his daughters were among nine people killed Sunday morning when a helicopter crashed into a hillside in Calabasas, California. 

Bryant, 41, and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna Maria Onore Bryant (Gigi) had been expected at the Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks for a basketball game scheduled for Sunday. Gianna was expected to play in the game and Bryant was expected to coach, according to Lady Mavericks team director Evelyn Morales.
The helicopter crash, about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, caused a brush fire, Los Angeles County Fire Department Chief Daryl Osby said. The crash killed all aboard, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said. Officials had said earlier that five people were killed.

Investigators are trying to determine the cause of the fatal crash. There was extensive fog in the Los Angeles area on Sunday morning.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash, the FAA said in a tweet. The FBI said it is assisting the NTSB in the investigation.

News of Kobe’s death, first reported by TMZ, sent shock waves throughout the world, as fellow athletes, celebrities and politicians paid tribute to the “Black Mamba.”

“There are no words to express the pain I'm going through with this tragedy of losing my niece Gigi and my brother,” Shaquille O’Neal, Bryant’s former Lakers teammate wrote on Twitter. “I’m sick right now.”

Former President Barack Obama, who hosted Bryant and the Lakers at the White House following the team’s 2010 NBA Championship, said: “Kobe was a legend on the court and just getting started in what would have been just as meaningful a second act. To lose Gianna is even more heartbreaking to us as parents. Michelle and I send love and prayers to Vanessa and the entire Bryant family on an unthinkable day.”

Source: CNN

27 January 2020 11:10