"A truly terrible accident scene". The federal investigation near Los Angeles, aimed at clarifying the circumstances of the fatal helicopter crash to basketball legend Kobe Bryant, brought little information on Monday, in the aftermath of a tragedy that aroused widespread emotion.
Shortly after the announcement of the postponement of the match between the Los Angeles Lakers and their neighbors of the Clippers, scheduled for Tuesday, the American agency responsible for transportation safety (NTSB), which is conducting the investigation alongside the American regulator of the Aviation, the FAA, held a press briefing. She spoke about the progress of the search, after examining the wreckage of the helicopter that crashed on a hill northwest of Los Angeles.
Little convincing information was recorded on "a really terrible accident scene", as qualified by Jennifer Homendy of the NTSB, who specified that "the debris was scattered over about 180 meters". "We are not here to determine the cause of the accident, we will not determine it on this scene", she continued, adding that the device did not have a black box because it does not was not necessary on this type of helicopter.
"We will be there, about five days on the spot, to collect perishable evidence," she "anticipated", a sign of the difficulties faced by the investigators at the scene of the disaster, difficult to access in the steep hills of Calabasas. Alex Villanueva, the Los Angeles County sheriff, said that the medical examiners were still in the process of collecting and identifying "remains" of the victims' bodies. "It is a very difficult task, it will take time," he said.
"The probability of a serious failure of the two engines of this machine is almost zero"
The helicopter, a Sikorsky S-76B, aboard which the nine victims were on board, crashed shortly before 10:00 am (local time) on Sunday, when heavy fog enveloped the region. He had taken off from Newport Beach, where Bryant resided, in the direction of the Mamba Academy, a sports center owned by the star located in Newbury Park, 135 km away. Authorities and experts seem for the time being to favor the weather track rather than possible mechanical problems.
Philippe Lesourd, helicopter pilot and instructor who has been flying in California for 29 years, told AFP that the weather had probably made the pilot lose control of the aircraft, explaining that he had most probably suffered from "disorientation" "after losing sight of the ground when entering the clouds. "The probability of a serious failure of the two engines of this machine is almost zero," said a former pilot of the Island Express company, Kurt Deetz, who transported Kobe Bryant several times.
Sport
Death of Kobe Bryant: "The same way of doing things and the same personality" ... Gianna, deceased in the crash, followed in her father's footsteps
- NBA
- Lakers
- Accident
- Kobe Bryant
- Sport
- Basketball