Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven other people died in a helicopter crash outside the Los Angeles area on Sunday morning. And for the first time, investigators have released official video footage of the crash scene. The National Transportation Safety Board released B-roll footage of investigators taking a loot at the accident site on Sunday. The video shows the helicopter shattered after crashing into a mountain.
There were a number of YouTube users who had a lot to say about the video.
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“I’m assuming there was no audio for obvious reasons due to the ongoing investigation?” one person wrote. “A job like this has to be one of the most difficult I could possibly imagine. Thank you for all your very tedious, difficult [and] challenging task.”
“From the NTSB saying the rotor was on the other side I think they approached the hill fast, saw it probably within a few feet,” another person hypotesized. “Tried to climb, hit the tail and lost into the hill when the tail snapped and fell down the other side of the hill… very sad for all 9 of them. Unfortunate.”
“Sending love and prayers for the families and friends,” another person stated. “Thank you for all you do NTSB Staff. I know this is hard for you all too.”
There are also photos of the helicopter getting caught on fire as it crashed. One man who was in the area said he saw the entire thing.
“Out of the fog came a helicopter and it slammed into the mountainside about 200 feet from where we were standing,” he said. “We were close enough that we could feel the air from the propellers. There was a huge fireball.”
“One of the helicopter doors landed about 10 to 15 feet away from us. Helicopter parts were flying everywhere. There was very little left of the helicopter,” he added.
The man went on to say that he and another witness attempted to reach the crash site to offer assistance, “but there were obviously no survivors.” He also said that he didn’t realize that Bryant was on the helicopter until later.
“We didn’t realize that Kobe Bryant was in the helicopter until we got back down to the parking lot,” he said. “Just the fact that a whole helicopter full of people crashed was shocking to us.”
