Three days after the fatal helicopter crash to basketball legend Kobe Bryant, Vanessa Laine Bryant, the widow of the Lakers star, spoke through social media. "My daughters and I [...] are completely devastated by the sudden loss of my husband, Kobe - the wonderful father of our children -, and of my beautiful and sweet Gianna - a loving, generous and wonderful daughter, the wonderful sister from Natalia, Bianka and Capri ", wrote the companion of the" Black Mamba "on Instagram.
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My girls and I want to thank the millions of people who've shown support and love during this horrific time. Thank you for all the prayers. We definitely need them. 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. We are also devastated for the families who lost their loved ones on Sunday, and we share in their grief intimately. There aren't enough words to describe our pain right now. I take comfort in knowing that Kobe and Gigi both knew that they were so deeply loved. We were so incredibly blessed to have them in our lives. I wish they were here with us forever. They were our beautiful blessings taken from us too soon. I'm not sure what our lives hold beyond today, and it's impossible to imagine life without them. But we wake up each day, trying to keep pushing because Kobe, and our baby girl, Gigi, are shining on us to light the way. Our love for them is endless - and that's to say, immeasurable. I just wish I could hug them, kiss them and bless them. Have them here with us, forever. Thank you for sharing your joy, your grief and your support with us. We ask that you grant us the respect and privacy we will need to navigate this new reality. To honor our Team Mamba family, the Mamba Sports Foundation has set up the MambaOnThree Fund to help support the other families affected by this tragedy. To donate, please go to MambaOnThree.org. To further Kobe and Gianna's legacy in youth sports, please visit MambaSportsFoundation.org. Thank you so much for lifting us up in your prayers, and for loving Kobe, Gigi, Natalia, Bianka, Capri and me. #Mamba #Mambacita #GirlsDad #DaddysGirls #Family ❤️
A post shared by Vanessa Bryant 🦋 (@vanessabryant) on Jan 29, 2020 at 4:59 pm PST
Kobe Bryant, 41, daughter Gianna, 13, and seven others died on January 26 when their helicopter crashed into a hillside near Los Angeles, for reasons still to be determined.
"We are also devastated for the families who lost their loved ones on Sunday, and we share their grief," added the widow of Kobe. She said she opened a fundraiser to help them financially, through the foundation she had created with her husband.
"There are no words to describe our pain at the moment," writes Vanessa Bryant, who had not spoken until then. She thanks "the millions of people who showed their support and their love for us through this ordeal" in a message accompanied by a photo of the six members of the family, radiant.
"It's impossible to imagine life without them. But we get up every day and try to move forward because Kobe and our baby, Gigi, show us the way," she writes.
The Lakers silent but on the floor
It is also in tribute to Kobe Bryant and the fighting spirit that he embodied that the Lakers team resumed the path of training. "We want to defend what Kobe stood for. We always wanted to make him proud, and we have no plans to change," Lakers coach Frank Vogel told reporters.
Star players like LeBron James and Anthony Davis were on the floor but stayed away from the media.
According to Frank Vogel, the club very simply indicated to its players, still reeling from the disappearance of Bryant who played with the team until 2016: "You can speak when you feel ready, and not before."
In sporting terms, the calendar is fixed. The NBA had certainly decided to postpone the derby originally scheduled for January 28, which was to pit the Lakers against the Clippers, the other franchise in Los Angeles. But the next meeting will take place as scheduled Friday, facing the Portland Trail Blazers, at the Staples Center.
"We mourned together"
This leaves LA basketballers little time to recover. At the first rally Tuesday morning, "we did things that we thought were therapeutically good," said Vogel.
"We went to the gymnasium for collective shooting exercises, not really training. I wanted the boys to come and clear their heads by sweating, touching the ball, to get together," he said.
"Then we had a meal and spent time together and mourned together," continued the coach, refusing to go into more details on this day.
Ticket prices for Friday's game skyrocketed on the StubHub resale platform, where the best seats were available for around $ 18,000.
StubHub has announced that it will donate the proceeds from the sale of tickets for this match to the foundation set up by the Bryant couple.
An "accidental certified" death
Investigators at the US Transportation Security Agency (NTSB) on Tuesday finished collecting debris from the crashed helicopter, scattered nearly 200 meters up the hillside.
They must now analyze these elements and the flight data to try to determine the circumstances of the tragedy. These investigations will last weeks, if not months, and the final report is not expected for at least a year, warned Jennifer Homendy of the NTSB.
The aircraft crashed while thick fog enveloped the area. Forensic experts announced Wednesday evening that they have completed the identification of the nine bodies removed from the debris, using fingerprints and DNA.
The autopsies confirmed that they had succumbed to a "traumatic shock", "the cause of death being certified accidental," they said in a statement.
With AFP
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