- Vanessa Bryant spoke out for the first time since her husband Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna were killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday (Jan 26), saying the family is "completely devastated" by the tragedy that also killed seven others.
Vanessa Bryant spoke out for the first time since her husband Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna were killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday (Jan 26), saying the family is “completely devastated” by the tragedy that also killed seven others.
“We are completely devastated by the sudden loss of my adoring husband, Kobe – the amazing father of our children; and my beautiful, sweet Gianna – a loving, thoughtful, and wonderful daughter, and amazing sister to Natalia, Bianka, and Capri,” she wrote in an Instagram post on Wednesday.
Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven other people were killed when the Sikorsky S-76 slammed into a rugged hillside in thick fog in Calabasas, northwest of Los Angeles. The helicopter was headed to Bryant’s Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, where his daughter was set to play a basketball game.
Meanwhile, federal investigators completed their inspection of the crash site and handed it over to local authorities.
Police on horseback and all-terrain vehicles were brought in to secure the area, which was becoming a pilgrimage point for fans.
The Los Angeles County Coroner said on Tuesday that four of the crash victims – Bryant, pilot Ara Zobayan, baseball coach John Altobelli and Sarah Chester – had been officially identified through fingerprints.
The coroner’s office was still working to formally identify the five remaining passengers: Gianna Bryant, her Mamba Academy teammates Alyssa Altobelli and Payton Chester, Alyssa’s mother Keri Altobelli and assistant Mamba Academy coach Christina Mauser.
A preliminary, fact-based report on the accident is expected in 10 days, according to Jennifer Homendy of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). But a final report on the probable cause of the accident, described as a “high energy impact crash,” will not be issued for 12-18 months.
