Los Angeles (AFP)
Late basketball star Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna, who died on January 26 in a helicopter crash with seven others, were buried last week during a private ceremony near Los Angeles, according to American media.
According to death certificates consulted by certain media, such as the Los Angeles Times, the funeral of the ex-Lakers player and his daughter took place at the Pacific View Memorial Park in Corona del Mar (California).
The private ceremony was probably organized in the utmost secrecy.
A public celebration in memory of Kobe Bryant and the other victims of the helicopter crash is scheduled for February 24 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, a 20,000-seat stadium where the Lakers legend has evolved throughout his career in the NBA.
The date of February 24 (02/24) is symbolic: Kobe Bryant wore the jersey number 24 during his second part of career, and Gianna, his 13 year old daughter taken with him, basketball player also, number 2.
Kobe and Gianna Bryant lost their lives on January 26, when their helicopter crashed into a hillside near Los Angeles, for as yet unknown reasons.
The other victims are a baseball coach, John Altobelli, his wife Keri and their daughter Alyssa who played basketball in the same club as Gianna, Christina Mauser, assistant coach of the two teenage girls' basketball team, Sarah and Payton Chester, a mother and daughter, and pilot Ara Zobayan.
Located in the heart of Los Angeles, the Staples Center had already hosted the public funeral of Michael Jackson in 2009 and that of the American rapper Nipsey Hussle, shot dead last year in his neighborhood.
© 2020 AFP