Transcript
John Altobelli, the head baseball coach Orange Coast College died on Sunday in the helicopter crash with Kobe Bryant.
Altobelli’s wife Keri and daughter Alyssa were also killed.
Alyssa was teammates with Bryant’s daughter Gianna.
Altobelli worked at Orange Coast College for twenty-seven years.
He had more than 700 wins in his career and four state championships.
The families were headed to the basketball game when their helicopter crash.
Also among the dead, Christina Mauser, an assistant girls basketball coach at a private school in Orange County, California.
Mother and daughter Sarah and Payton Chester were killed in the crash as was the pilot Ara Zobayan.
Authorities are investigating the cause and looking into whether foggy conditions played a role.
According to air traffic controllers, the helicopter was operating under “special visual flight rules” which allows a pilot to fly in weather conditions worse than those allowed for standard visual flight rules.
But investigators say it’s not clear if the pilot radioed a distress signal before the crash.
The effort to recover the victims bodies has started but authorities say the process could take days because of the rough terrain and the condition of the crash site.