A helicopter carrying the CEO of Nigeria’s largest bank and his family crashed near the California-Nevada border late Friday night — just days after five Marines were killed when their chopper went down in the Golden State.
The Eurocopter EC 130 crashed near Nipton, the outer reaches of the Mojave Desert Preserve, east of the 15 Freeway, around 10 p.m. local time, the Federal Aviation Administration said. There was reportedly rainy weather at the time.
Bloomberg reported that among the six killed in the crash was Herbert Wigwe, 57, CEO and co-founder of Access Bank, along with Abimbola Ogunbanjo, 61, the former president of the Nigerian stock exchange.
Wigwe’s family was reportedly also on board, but the names and ages of those who died were not immediately known.
No survivors have been located, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said. The sheriff’s office said the flight was heading to Boulder City, Nevada, about 25 miles outside of Las Vegas, where Super Bowl LVIII is set to kick off Sunday, Fox News Digital reported.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash. NTSB investigators should arrive on the scene by Sunday. “They will document the scene and examine the aircraft,” an NTSB spokesperson told Fox News. “The aircraft will then be recovered to a secure facility for further evaluation.”
The helicopter is registered to a Burbank-area tour company called Orbic Air, NBC reported.
Orbic Air could not be immediately reached for a comment.
The Friday night incident marks the second fatal helicopter crash in California in less than a week, after five Marines perished when their aircraft went down while returning from a training exercise on Tuesday.
Additional reporting by Chris Nesi