Basketball star Kobe Bryant, 41, has died in a helicopter crash, US media report.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Kobe Bryant, the legendary basketball star who spent 20 years with the Los Angeles Lakers, was killed Sunday when the helicopter he was traveling in crashed and burst into flames Sunday morning amid foggy conditions in the hills above Calabasas.
Officials with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department responded to reports of the crash near Las Virgenes Rd and Willow Glen St in Calabasas at around 10am after a fire broke out.
TMZ reported that Bryant was traveling with four other people in his private helicopter when it crashed, killing everyone on board.
Kobe Bryant was a 18-time NBA All-Star who won five championships and became one of the greatest basketball players of his generation during a 20-year career spent entirely with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Bryant retired in 2016 as the third-leading scorer in NBA history.
Bryant’s achievements include being the 2008 NBA Most Valuable Player and two-time NBA Finals MVP. He was also two-time NBA scoring champion and a two-time Olympic champion.
He also won an Oscar for best short animated film in 2018 for Dear Basketball, a five-minute film based on a love letter to the sport he had written in 2015.
