THE NATION
Sketchy details of how the Group Chief Executive Officer of Access Holdings Plc, Herbert Wigwe, his wife, and son died in a helicopter crash were provided yesterday by the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
NTSB is an agency charged by the US Congress to investigate every civil aviation accident and significant accidents, said the helicopter caught fire immediately it crashed amid “rain and a wintry mix”.in the middle of a desert near Nipton, San Bernardino County in California on Friday.
Wigwe, his wife, Doreen Chizoba, son, Chizi; Abimbola Ogunbanjo, a former chairman of the Nigerian Exchange Group; and two crew members were aboard the ill-fated Eurocopter EC 130 chopper. the flight operated by Orbic Air LLC.
An NTSB board member, who gave the details, Michael Graham, alongside the investigator in charge of the incident, Aaron Sours, said it would take a year or two for the final report on the crash to be ready.
“As far as we know, from what was reported from witnesses there was fire when the aircraft did contact the terrain,” Graham said at a news conference in Barstow, California.
He explained that a representative of the NTSB’s Transportation Disaster Assistance division at the scene was currently working with the family members of the deceased.
Graham added: “We currently have a meteorologist working on our team and we were working to analyse and get the exact weather conditions at that time. Of course, that’s out in the middle of the desert so we’ll have to find the closest reporting stations nearby to be able to give an accurate reportNextStay
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