Bodies of Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven other people released to their families
Basketball
By
Game Yetu
| Feb 04, 2020
The remains of Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven other people have been given to their family by the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office.
The crash claimed the lives of Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, 13, Payton Chester, 13, Sarah Chester, 45, Alyssa Altobelli, 14, Keri Altobelli, 46, John Altobelli, 56, Christina Mauser, 38, and the helicopter's pilot, Ara Zobayan, 50.
Last week, the coroner's office announced that it had officially identified all nine victims killed in the January 26 helicopter crash near Los Angeles.
Medical examiners identified the body of Kobe Bryant after recovering the remains of all nine people.
Bryant’s body was officially identified along with three others using fingerprints, two days after their helicopter crashed into a rugged hillside northwest of the city.
Three bodies were retrieved from the scattered wreckage by a special response team Sunday -- the day of the crash.
The remaining six were located as the search resumed in rugged terrain Monday 27.
The remains were "removed from the crash site and transported to the department's forensic science center" for examination and identification.
Bryant, 41, was traveling with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven other passengers when the Sikorsky S-76 slammed into a rugged hillside in thick fog in Calabasas, northwest of LA.
There were no survivors.
A five-time NBA champion for his only team, the LA Lakers, and a double Olympic gold medalist, Bryant was widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players in history.
He was traveling on his private helicopter from Orange County, where he lived, to his Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks where his daughter was set to play.
Investigators are set to remain at the site of the crash throughout the week to collect evidence, hoping to find clues to what caused the accident that stunned the world.
Jennifer Homendy, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, described the accident scene as "pretty devastating," with wreckage spread across about 600 feet (180 meters).