Paramedics determined that all nine people on the helicopter had died in the crash. (Tolga Adanali/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) Los Ange...
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| Paramedics determined that all nine people on the helicopter had died in the crash. (Tolga Adanali/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) |
Paramedic teams rushed to the site, but determined that all nine people — eight passengers and the pilot — had already perished. “We had one helicopter fly into the incident with firefighter paramedics on board,” Osby said. “Those paramedics were hoisted down to the incident, early into the incident, they did a search of the area for survivors. Unfortunately … all on board were determined to have been perished.”.
Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, were on board when the helicopter crashed. They were joined by another teammate of Gianna’s and a parent en route to a travel basketball game, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported. The Orange County Register reported that Orange Coast college baseball coach John Altobelli also died in the crash.
It is not clear who the other six people on board the helicopter were, and Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva declined to identify anyone involved in the crash. “There is wide speculation who the identities are. However it is entirely inappropriate right now to identify anyone by name until the coroner has made the identification through their very deliberative process and they have made notifications to next of kin,” Villanueva said. An investigation into the cause of the crash is still ongoing.