The five remaining victims of Sunday’s fatal helicopter crash that killed NBA star Kobe Bryant and eight others have been identified. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner released an official statement Wednesday evening. As the release states, the names were only given after “round-the-clock testing and analysis of DNA,” and were only made public after authorities “notified their legal next of kin.”
Remaining helicopter crash victims identified https://t.co/rDITorQHaU #Calabasas
— LA County Medical Examiner-Coroner (@lacountymec) January 30, 2020
The five remaining victims of the crash to have been identified are Gianna Bryant, Payton Chester, Alyssa Altobelli, Keri Altobelli and Christina Mauser. They join the four victims who were identified Tuesday, which include Bryant, John Altobelli, Sarah Chester and the pilot, Ara Zobayan.
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Additionally, the cause of death for all nine victims has been ruled as blunt force trauma, though the cause of the crash is still being ruled as an accident. The same cause of death had already been ruled for two victims yesterday, including Bryant.
Earlier today, drone footage of the wreckage site was released, which showed a field full of debris that covers roughly 200 yards across the Southern California hillside near Calabasas, California. The investigators on the ground are also featured prominently in the video as they comb through the remains to try and piece together what caused the fatal crash.
While it’s thought that the foggy weather that morning likely played a role, experts say it’s likely that Zobayan may have misjudged the area he was flying over, and failed to clear a hill by only 20 to 30 feet. The first official report from the National Transportation Safety Board is due in approximately 10 days, though it will not mean the end of the investigation itself.
“It’s not going to contain our findings, our analysis,” NTSB member Jennifer Homendy told CNN. “It’s not going to contain any safety recommendations or probable cause. But it’s going to provide some factual information — more than we have now.”
However, Homendy did remark that the helicopter’s descent rate “was over 2,000 feet a minute,” adding that’s “a pretty steep descent at high speed.”
Given that the helicopter itself did not have a black box, which isn’t a requirement for craft of its kind, The NTSB has also asked anyone who has photos of what the weather looked like around the crash site Sunday morning to email them to witness@ntsb.gov.
