Basketball legend Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter and seven other people died yesterday when a helicopter crashed in California.
The official cause of the crash has not been determined, but here's what we know so far:
- Visibility was low: The crash happened under foggy conditions in Calabasas, California. Visibility was so low Sunday morning that Los Angeles police had grounded its helicopters, spokesman Josh Rubenstein said.
- But the helicopter still had clearance to fly: It was operating under "special visual flight rules," according to an air traffic control conversation with the pilot, captured by website LiveATC.net. An SVFR clearance allows a pilot to fly in weather conditions worse than those allowed for standard visual flight rules.
- Recovery efforts and the investigation are difficult: Investigators are struggling to find clues in difficult conditions because the crash site remote, officials said. The effort to recover the victims' bodies has started but could take days, given the terrain and the condition of the site.
Here's a look at the flight path: