Friends, fans and family alike continue to mourn the loss of NBA legend Kobe Bryant following his shocking death last month.
On January 26th, the 41-year-old basketball star lost his life in a tragic helicopter crash. Eight other individuals, including his teenage daughter, Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant, were also on board and sadly, they all perished along with the iconic athlete, as there were no survivors. The group had been on their way to a basketball game when the helicopter, piloted by Ara Zobayan, crashed in Calabasas, California.
And while investigations are still ongoing and new details continue to emerge every day, the Los Angeles authorities have now made public a number of 911 calls that came in to report the crash. You can listen to them in full over on SoundCloud, or see a sample of what some of the callers said below:
“I am walking on the trail. I could hear the plane. I think it was in the clouds, but I couldn’t see it then. We just heard a boom and a dead sound, and then I could see the flames,” said someone on a nearby hiking trail in Calabasas.
A second caller said, “A helicopter crashed into a mountain. We heard it. And now I’m looking at the flames.”
A third caller: “It went over my head. It’s thick in clouds. And then I heard a pop, and it immediately stopped. If this guy doesn’t have night vision, he is completely IFR [instrument flight rules].”
It’s been well over a week now since we lost Kobe Bryant but it’s probably fair to say that many are still struggling to come to terms with the fact that he’s no longer with us. Bryant was a true inspiration, one of the greatest to ever play the game of basketball and a genuine sporting legend. There are few athletes like him still around and there’ll likely be even fewer to ever reach the levels of greatness that he did throughout his career.
As mentioned above, investigations into the crash are still underway and the full picture is still coming to light, but as we wait to learn more about what happened, our thoughts and prayers go out to Kobe Bryant‘s loved ones as they deal with what’s an incredibly tragic situation.
