Kobe Bryant, a 41-year-old former American basketball player, joined the list of sports personalities who lost their lives in helicopter accidents. On January 26, he lost his life in the hills of southern California. His 13-year-old daughter Gianna was also on board.
The most recent precedent is that of Thai businessman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who owned Leicester City when on October 27, 2018, he suffered an accident in his personal helicopter while leaving King Power Stadium. He was 60 years old and was traveling with three other passengers and the pilot.
Olympic swimmer Camille Muffat, Olympic boxer Alexis Vastine, and sailor Florence Arthaud, all French, died in separate helicopter accidents while filming a reality show in Argentina on March 9, 2015. A collision between two of them resulted in the death of 10 people, including three French athletes.
Muffat had won gold, silver, and bronze medals at London 2012, while Vastine had won the bronze medal in the same Olympic event. Meanwhile, Arthaud was a prominent sailor from her country.
On June 7, 2014, the former striker of Inter de Porto Alegre, with whom he won the Copa Libertadores (2006), the Club World Cup (2006), and the South American Recopa (2007), Fernandao, passed away after a helicopter accident in the Brazilian locality of Aruana. Four other people also died in the tragedy.