In a devastating incident near the California-Nevada border, a helicopter crash involving six individuals, including Access Holdings CEO Herbert Wigwe, his wife, and son, has been reported. The crash occurred early Saturday morning, The New York Times indicates that there were no survivors.
Access Holdings, the parent company of Access Bank, has not officially confirmed the death of Mr. Wigwe at the time of this report. However, Premium Times in Nigeria has stated that Mr Wigwe, along with his wife and son, were passengers on the ill-fated helicopter.
The Eurocopter EC130 helicopter, with the registration N130CZ, crashed close to Nipton, Calif, an unincorporated community approximately 60 miles south of Las Vegas in eastern San Bernardino County, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department was alerted to the crash at 10:12 p.m. local time, and the crash site was situated east of Interstate 15, near Halloran Springs Road.
The ill-fated flight departed from Palm Springs, California, at 8:45 pm and was last observed near Fort Irwin/Barstow, California, at 9:49 pm, Friday [US time].
The cause of the crash involving the Airbus Helicopter EC-130 remains unclear. The National Transportation Safety Board (N.T.S.B.) and the Federal Aviation Administration (F.A.A.) are actively conducting an investigation, with N.T.S.B. representatives scheduled to arrive at the scene on Saturday. The tragic incident has left the aviation community and the business world in shock as they await further details from the ongoing investigation.