Kobe Bryant and three other victims of the tragic helicopter crashin Calabasas, California have officially been identified by the Los Angeles County Coroner.
“Over the span of two days, personnel from the department’s Special Operations Response Team (SORT) located and recovered the nine bodies from the extensive crash site,” a statement from the Coroner reads. “Through the use of fingerprints, investigators identified three men and one woman who were on the aircraft.”
National Transportation Safety Board member Jennifer Homendy continued at a news conference Monday afternoon:”We know the helicopter was at 2,300 feet before it lost communication with Air Traffic Control. The decent rate of the helicopter was over 2,000 feet per minute. So we know this was a high energy impact crash and the helicopter was in a descending left back.”
As Radar has reported, nine people were killed on the morning of January 26, when the helicopter they were traveling in crashed along a Calabasas mountainside.
The Los Angeles Lakers legend and his daughter Giana were among those on board the helicopter, although the 13-year-old’s body has not been identified yet.
The group was traveling to Mamba Academy for a practice game on Sunday morning when the flying conditions turned dangerous due to the weather, and the pilot crashed into a mountain in Calabasas.
Weather conditions were poor at the time, with dense fog, but it’s not yet clear if that played a part in the crash.
Investigators are still working on officially identifying the five remaining passengers, but their names and identities have been revealed through other means.
“The Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner will provide immediate updates on the names of the decedents as soon as they are officially verified and their next of kin have been notified,” the statement concludes.
Click through this Radar gallery to learn more about the victims identified, along with those who are still waiting to be verified.
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