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Forensics collect evidence of Kobe Bryant's accident 6:54
(CNN) - Five-time NBA Championship winner Kobe Bryant died Sunday in a helicopter crash in southern California, along with his daughter, Gianna, and seven other people.
The group was flying to Thousand Oaks, California, on Sunday, for a basketball game in which Gianna was scheduled to play and Bryant was expected to be the coach.
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Bryant, 41, spent his entire career with Los Angeles Lakers and continues to occupy the position of one of the best scorers in the history of the NBA.
Thousands of people across the country mourned the death of the icon, and now joins a list of other athletes who died in air accidents.
These are some of the men and women who lost their lives in air accidents in the last half century.
The footballer Emiliano Sala
Emiliano Sala, a 28-year-old Argentine forward, died when his plane crashed over the English Channel in January 2019. The pilot, David Ibbotson, is presumed to have died.
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Shortly before the accident, Sala left the French team FC Nantes for the English Premier League Cardiff City club for about US $ 19.3 million. He was heading to Wales after saying goodbye to his former teammates.
After the death of the young player, the president of FC Nantes, Waldemar Kita, announced that the club would withdraw from the jersey number 9 that Sala used to wear.
MLB pitcher Roy Halladay
In 2017, former baseball pitcher Roy Halladay died when his two-seater single-engine plane crashed off the coast of Florida.
The 40-year-old athlete, who won 203 major league games, was the only person on board.
The plane crashed in very shallow water and was found upside down, CNN reported at the time. The Pasco County Sheriff's Office had said there had been no distress calls before the accident.
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Halladay was a pitcher in 16 seasons in the major leagues, the first 12 with the Toronto Blue Jays, and then reached the Philadelphia Phillies.
"There are no words to describe the sadness that the entire Phillies family feels for the loss of one of the most respected human beings the game has ever played," said a team statement.
Three french athletes
Boxer Alexis Vastine, swimmer Camille Muffat and sailor Florence Arthaud died in March 2015 when two helicopters collided in Argentina.
Seven other people died while filming a reality TV show called "Dropped" in northwestern Argentina.
Vastine, 28, won a bronze medal in the lightweight welterweight division at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Arthaud, 57, broke the record in 1990 for crossing the North Atlantic alone.
Muffat, 25, won three medals at the London 2012 Olympics: the 400-meter freestyle gold medal, the 200-meter freestyle silver and the bronze in the 4-X freestyle relay 200 meters.
MLB pitcher Cory Lidle
New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle died in October 2006 when his plane crashed into a high-rise apartment building in New York.
He was 34 years old.
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Lidle's four-seater took off from the Teterboro Regional Airport in New Jersey around 2:30 pm and was on the radar as it circled the Statue of Liberty and headed north on the East River, according to the mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg
A source told CNN that there was a distress call from the pilot that involved a fuel problem.
Eleven firefighters and five civilians had minor injuries, the mayor said. Lidle's flight instructor also died in the accident.
Golfer Payne Stewart
In October 1999, a Lear jet carrying professional 42-year-old golfer Payne Stewart and five other people crashed near Aberdeen, South Dakota.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the accident was probably caused by the sudden loss of cabin pressure on the plane. That may have left everyone inside the plane incapacitated or dead.
The plane left Orlando, Florida, and headed to Texas, where Stewart was scheduled to play in a tournament. The plane flew off course for approximately 1,500 miles, apparently on autopilot, until it crashed.
Stewart won 11 PGA Tour events, including the 1989 PGA Open and the US Open in 1991 and 1999. He represented the United States in five Ryder Cup teams and three World Cup teams.
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NFL runner Rodney Culver
Rodney Culver, 26, was between 104 passengers and five crew members who died when ValuJet Flight 592 crashed in the Florida Everglades in May 1996.
Culver played as a runner with the San Diego Chargers.
Culver's wife, Karen Culver, also died in the accident. They were survived by their two daughters.
MIRA: Other aerial tragedies that tarnished football
NASCAR driver Alan Kulwicki
Alan Kulwicki, named one of the 50 best NASCAR pilots, died in a plane crash in April 1993 when he was 38 years old. Three other people on the plane died.
Kulwicki, a mechanical engineer from Wisconsin, was named NASCAR Rookie of the Year in 1986 and won the NASCAR Cup Drivers' Championship in 1992.
He moved to Charlotte in 1984 with "nothing more than a truck, a self-made race car and hopes of competing in the highest NASCAR series," according to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
MLB receiver Thurman Munson
Thurman Munson, the receiver and captain of the New York Yankees team, died in August 1979 while practicing take-offs and landings on his new Cessna Citation aircraft at Akron-Canton, Ohio airport. He was 32 years old.
Munson was a Yankee veteran for nine years. He played in two world championship teams and was named rookie of the year in the 1970 American League and 1976 American League MVP.
MLB gardener Roberto Clemente
Puerto Rican baseball legend Roberto Clemente, 38, died in December 1972 when a plane carrying aid from an earthquake in Nicaragua crashed off the coast of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Four other people on board died.
During his time with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he won a dozen gold gloves, appeared in a dozen All-Star games and was MVP of the National League in 1966 and MVP of the 1971 World Series.
He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame the year after his death.
Rocky Marciano's boxer
In August 1969, former heavyweight world champion Rocky Marciano died in a plane crash near Newton, Iowa. He was 45 years old. The pilot and another passenger also died.
Marciano had announced his retirement in 1956, saying he wanted to spend time with his family. He had a perfect 49-0 record, with 43 knockouts, which made him the only heavyweight boxer to retire undefeated.
Kobe Bryant
