Kobe Bryant's 13-year-old daughter Gianna was also aboard the helicopter and died in the crash.
Rabat – American basketball superstar Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash in Los Angeles, California, along with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and three others, on Sunday morning.
Kobe Bryant was only 41 years old and leaves behind wife Vanessa Bryant and three other daughters, ages 17, 3, and 7 months, according to American news outlet TMZ Sports.
The helicopter burst into flames after crashing just before 10 a.m. local time (7 p.m. in Morocco), and emergency services responded.
However, the early responders struggled to reach the crash site because its flames had set off a small bush fire, a member of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said, as the Los Angeles Times reported.
The basketball icon was known to fly frequently in a helicopter, according to TMZ.
Bryant played for the Los Angeles Lakers for two decades, where he earned superstar status with multiple records before he retired in 2016.
Throughout his career, Kobe Bryant won five of the American National Basketball Association (NBA) championships.
Bryant had tweeted late on Saturday his support for fellow basketball player LeBron James, who had just surpassed Kobe Bryant’s record to become basketball’s third highest-scoring player in the NBA.
Continuing to move the game forward @KingJames. Much respect my brother ?? #33644
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) January 26, 2020
After LeBron James passed Kobe Bryant’s record, he said Kobe was “one of the all-time greatest basketball players to ever play, one of the all-time greatest Lakers.”
Kobe Bryant was also the second-highest earning player in the NBA, Business Insider noted.
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