Katie Couric posted a tribute to the Altobelli family on Instagram following Sunday’s horrific helicopter crash. The Altobellis were on the same flight that killed Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna over the weekend. Couric made sure her followers knew about the weight of their loss.
Couric shared a photo of the Altobelli family smiling in front of a Christmas tree on Sunday. The group included lauded college baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife Keri and their teenage daughter, Alyssa, who played with Gianna on a youth basketball team at Bryant’s Mamba Academy. All three were onboard the helicopter that crashed in Calabasas, California, on Sunday.
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“My heart goes out to the Altobelli family,” Couric wrote with a broken heart emoji.
Couric’s post picked up nearly 48,000 likes, with commenters remarking on how heartbreaking the loss was. As more news spread in the days that followed, Couric posted about other victims of the crash, their families, and the culture-wide shock at this tragic crash. She later shared a screenshot of a tweet which read: “Leaving your home and getting back safely is such an underrated blessing.”
“I don’t know about you all, but I can’t stop thinking about all those families who, in an instant, lost so much,” Couric wrote in the caption. “Especially the three young girls, full of promise, potential and so much of their lives ahead of them. I have no words of wisdom here except life is a precious gift and we should be grateful every day.”
“We are shaken to our core when something like this happens, then in a matter of days, we are back obsessing over things that don’t really matter, stooping to levels we shouldn’t be and forgetting to be kind,” Couric went on. “Let’s try to remember and to rise above. Perhaps that’s the best way to honor the lives that are cut short, not just yesterday, but every day.”
The helicopter crash happened on Sunday just before 10 a.m. PT. The flight was going from Orange County to the Thousand Oaks area of Los Angeles, but fell in Calabasas — about 17 miles from its destination. According to a report by CBS News, the flight conditions were poor to begin with, and the heavy fog combined with mountainous terrain made it especially difficult.
Authorities are investigating the crash from every angle, trying to make sense of this tragedy that has rocked the world. In the meantime, many prominent figures are looking for ways to honor Bryant and the other victims.
