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.
NTSB B-Roll taken on Jan. 27 of investigators documenting the accident site of the Jan. 26 helicopter crash in Calabasas, CA; https://t.co/apLHHAkj2z
- NTSB_Newsroom (@NTSB_Newsroom) January 28, 2020Investigators 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 Jennifer 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.
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 Jennifer Homendy.
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