Forensic experts officially identified the body of basketball player Kobe Bryant on Tuesday among the nine from the debris of the helicopter which crashed two days ago on a hill near Los Angeles.
The 41-year-old former NBA star was identified by his fingerprints, along with three other people who were on board the aircraft, whose debris scattered for nearly 200 meters at the following a shock "at high speed", according to investigators from the US agency responsible for transport safety (NTSB).
They had mentioned "a really terrible accident scene". They announced on Tuesday afternoon "having finished the site", whose responsibility has been transferred to the police now that the debris has been collected and removed for analysis.
The experts used in particular drones to comb the ground, but also to try to "reproduce the trajectory of the helicopter", explained during a press conference Jennifer Homendy, member of the NTSB.
The investigation will take several months
Investigators are now organizing various interrogations, including air traffic controllers, to try to determine the circumstances of the crash. But the investigations will still last weeks, warned Ms. Homendy, who spoke of a "final report" in 12 to 18 months.
For their part, forensic experts from Los Angeles County examined the nine bodies extracted from the debris to identify them formally.
Besides Kobe Bryant, they were able to identify two men and a woman. They are John Altobelli, 56, a baseball coach who died in the crash with his wife Keri and their daughter Alyssa, according to relatives, and the helicopter pilot, Ara Zobayan, 50. The woman is Sarah Chester, 45, who was in the aircraft with her daughter Payton.
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Death of Kobe Bryant: who were the other eight passengers in the helicopter
"Investigators are still working to identify the five remaining deceased," including Kobe Bryant's daughter Gianna, 13, who was in the helicopter with her father.
An accidental maneuver linked to the fog
The aircraft, a Sikorsky S-76B, crashed shortly before 10 a.m. (7 p.m. in France) Sunday, when thick fog enveloped the region. He had taken off from Newport Beach (about 60 km south of Los Angeles), where Kobe Bryant resided, in the direction of the Mamba Academy, a sports center owned by the star, located 135 km away.
Authorities and experts seem for the moment to favor an accidental maneuver linked to the fog rather than possible mechanical problems.
The aircraft did not have a black box, as it was not required on this type of helicopter. It also did not have an altitude alarm, as the NTSB had repeatedly recommended to the American Civil Aviation Agency, said Ms. Homendy.
The great sadness of the sports world
The death of the basketball legend, who played for 20 years for the Lakers team, plunged Los Angeles and the sports world into sorrow.
Hundreds of fans continued Tuesday to meditate outside the Staples Center in Los Angeles, while his successor in the Lakers, "king" LeBron James, ended up expressing his grief on Monday evening.
"I'm not ready, but I'm going. Dude, I'm sitting there trying to write something but every time I try I start crying just thinking of you, your daughter Gigi and the friendship, bond, brotherhood that united us! ", He wrote on his Instagram account, in memory of the five-time NBA champion, one of the seven players in history to have scored more than 30,000 points during his career.
The San Siro stadium in Milan also paid tribute to the planetary star on Tuesday evening before an Italian Cup match. Kobe Bryant had spent part of his childhood in Italy, where his father, a professional basketball player, Joe Bryant, had ended his career.
Tennis player Novak Djokovic, in tears, praised the memory of his "mentor and friend" Kobe Bryant, "one of the best athletes of all time" during the Australian Open.
Extremely rare decision, the NBA announced the postponement of the derby originally planned for Tuesday at the Staples Center, which was to pit the Lakers against the Clippers, the other franchise in Los Angeles.
