World mourns Kobe Bryant

Basketball legend Kobe Bryant’s death in a helicopter crash along with his teenage daughter sparked an outpouring of grief across the worlds of sports and entertainment yesterday.

Bryant, 41, was traveling Sunday with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven other passengers and crew when their helicopter slammed into a rugged hillside in thick fog in Calabasas, west of Los Angeles. There were no survivors.

A five-time NBA champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist, Bryant is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players in history.

He was an iconic figure who became one of the faces of his sport during a glittering two-decade career with the Los Angeles Lakers.

All-time basketball great Michael Jordan said Bryant was “like a little brother” to him.

“Words can’t describe the pain I’m feeling,” the former Chicago Bulls star said. “We used to talk often and I will miss those conversations very much.”

Dozens of firefighters and paramedics battled across hilly terrain to reach the flaming wreckage of the Sikorsky S-76 but found no survivors, officials said.

Fans and mourners descended on the area but police warned people to stay away.

“As you can imagine, it’s a logistical nightmare in a sense because the crash site itself is not easily accessible,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva told reporters.

The National Transportation Safety Board said an 18-strong team of investigators would be sent to California to probe the crash.

WORLDWIDE TRIBUTES

Tributes to Bryant flooded in from former US presidents, pop stars and athletes from different sports, a sign of how the man known as the “Black Mamba” had transcended basketball.

“Kobe was a legend on the court and just getting started in what would have been just as meaningful a second act,” Barack Obama tweeted.

“Laker Nation, the game of basketball & our city, will never be the same without Kobe,” former Los Angeles Lakers star Magic Johnson tweeted.

American football star Tom Brady wrote simply: “We miss you already Kobe.”

At the Australian Open, Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios wore a Lakers jersey before he took on Rafael Nadal.

At the Staples Center in Los Angeles, crowds of shocked fans gathered to pay tribute as the venue which witnessed many of Bryant’s career highlights hosted the music industry’s Grammy Awards.

Hundreds, many wearing purple and gold Lakers shirts, placed flowers and candles at a makeshift memorial for their hero.

“This dude is everything to me man. It makes no sense,” said distraught Lakers fan Bobby Jimenez.

Singer Alicia Keys paid a somber tribute at the Grammys.

“To be honest with you, we’re all feeling crazy sadness right now,” Keys told the audience. “Los Angeles, America and the whole wide world lost a hero. And we’re literally standing here heartbroken in the house that Kobe Bryant built.”

Across the NBA, tributes were held at several of the eight games played Sunday.

Denver Nuggets fans began chants of “Kobe, Kobe” as a minute’s silence was held before their game against the Houston Rockets.

In New York, Madison Square Garden was lit up in purple and gold alongside a giant image of Bryant captioned: “Kobe Bryant, 1978-2020.”

The crash came only hours after Bryant was passed by current Lakers star LeBron James for third on the all-time NBA scoring list in a Saturday game at Philadelphia.

Bryant’s final post on social media had been a tweet congratulating James.

“Continuing to move the game forward @KingJames,” Bryant wrote. “Much respect my brother #33644.”

Bryant was a five-time NBA champion in a career that began in 1996 straight out of a high school and lasted until his retirement in 2016.

He also was a two-time Olympic gold medalist, helping spark the US squad of NBA stars to titles in 2008 in Beijing and 2012 in London.

In 2018, he won an Oscar for his animated short film “Dear Basketball”, a love letter to the sport which brought him fame and fortune.