A helicopter carrying six people, including the co-founder of Nigeria’s biggest bank by assets, crashed in a Southern California desert area near the Mojave National Preserve, authorities and family members said. Everyone aboard the aircraft died.
Herbert Wigwe, co-founder of Access Bank, was among the victims, family members from his home village of Isiokpo said. Abimbola Ogunbanjo, who was president of the National Council of the Nigeria Stock Exchange from 2017 to 2021, and served as the group chairman of the Nigerian Exchange Group Plc from 2021 to 2022, also was confirmed dead by a family member in Lagos.
The Federal Aviation Administration said a Eurocopter EC helicopter crashed at about 10 p.m. on Friday with six people on board.
“The scene of the crash was determined to be east of the 15-Freeway, near Halloran Springs Road,” the San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner Department said in an emailed statement on Saturday. “No survivors have been located.”
The helicopter went down near Baker, a town of 700 people about 95 miles southwest of Las Vegas, said Peter Knudson, a spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board.
The helicopter took off from Palm Springs Airport around 8:45 p.m. and was en route to Boulder City, Nevada, when it crashed, according to the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff’s officials told KABC-7 that they have not been able to locate any survivors and the cause of the crash is unknown.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to the site to investigate the crash. A news conference is scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday.
“It has been confirmed all six people on board the aircraft are deceased,” the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department said Saturday afternoon. “The identities of the deceased will be released once positive identification has been made and next of kin notifications have been made.”
On his X account, Wigwe posted in January: “Today and always, let us remember that life is a precious gift – a chance to breathe, feel, love, experience and connect. Let’s honor this gift by living with purpose, kindness, and gratitude, making every moment count … Let us number our days.”
Logs from the California Highway Patrol show there was rain and snow in the area at about the time of the crash.
Halloran Springs Road crosses over Interstate 15 in an area known to travelers for an abandoned gas station with a sign declaring “Lo Gas” and “Eat.” It’s located in a remote area of the Mojave Desert, with an elevation of nearly 3,000 feet
The crash comes less than a week after a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter crashed in the mountains outside San Diego on Tuesday during historic downpours. Five Marines were killed.
Boulder City is about 26 miles southeast of Las Vegas, where the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers are set to play in Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday.
Bloomberg, the Associated Press and staff writer Hunter Lee contributed to this report.
