Kobe Bryant, Wigwe, Yakowa… VIPs who have died in helicopter crash

May 20, 2024 10:12 am

The death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on Sunday evening has brought to light the recent air crashes involving choppers in which prominent personalities have died.

Raisi, Hossein Amirabdollahian, foreign minister; Malek Rahmati, governor of East Azarbaijan province; and Hojjatoleslam Al Hashem, Tabriz Friday prayer leader, were on board the ill-fated helicopter.

The Iranian president and those on the helicopter were confirmed dead after rescue teams found the wreckage of the chopper.

The incident joins the growing list of tragic helicopter crashes involving prominent people.

TheCable highlights recent helicopter crashes involving prominent people.

HERBERT WIGWE AND OTHERS

Wigwe died in a helicopter crash with his wife and son

On February 9, Herbert Wigwe, the group chief executive officer (GCEO) of Access Holdings Plc, died in a helicopter crash in the United States.

Wigwe’s wife and son, as well as Abimbola Ogunbanjo, the former group chairman of Nigerian Exchange Group Plc (NGX Group), also died in the helicopter crash.

The helicopter crashed in California, near

VICHAI SRIVADDHANAPRABHA

Srivaddhanaprabha, late owner of Leicester City

On October 28, 2018, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, owner of Leicester City football club, died alongside four others after his helicopter crashed outside King Power Stadium in the United Kingdom.

The other four victims were Nursara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare, staff of the Leicester owner, and the pilot, Eric Swaffer, and his partner, Izabela Roza Lechowicz.

KOBE BYRANT

Bryant, died along side Gianna, his 13-year-old daughter

On January 26, 2020, Kobe Bryant, a US basketball icon, and Gianna, his 13-year-old daughter, died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.

John Altobelli, Orange Coast College baseball coach, and his wife, Keri, and Alyssa, their daughter, were also casualties in the incident.

The helicopter, a Sikorsky S-76, crashed in Calabasas, about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

PATRICK YAKOWA AND OWOYE AZAZI

On December 15, 2012, Patrick Yakowa, former governor of Kaduna, and Owoye Azazi, former national security adviser (NSA), died in a helicopter crash in Bayelsa state.

Yakowa and Azazi were heading to Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital, after the burial of Tamunoobebara Douglas, the father of Oronto, an ex-aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan.