Two prominent members of the Nigerian business community, Herbert Onyewumba Wigwe and Abimbola Ogunbanjo, yesterday died in a helicopter crash in the United States, throwing the community into mourning.
Also killed in the crash were Wigwe’s wife, Chizoba, their son and the two crew members.
Wigwe was until yesterday the Chief Executive Officer of Access Holdings and the brains behind Wigwe University, Isiokpo, Rivers State.
Ogunbanjo was Group Chairman, Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX Group) Plc and the scion of the late corporate lawyer and philanthropist, Chief Christopher Oladipo Ogunbanjo.
Their helicopter, a Eurocopter EC 130, went down near Baker, a town of 700 people about 153 kilometres (95 miles) southwest of Las Vegas, according to multiple reports from the US.
The helicopter had taken off from Palm Springs Airport around 8:45 pm and was en route Boulder City, Nevada when it crashed at about 10 pm, the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department said.
“We were made aware of a downed aircraft at approximately 10:12 pm on February 10, 2024. The scene of the crash was determined to be east of the 15-Freeway, near Halloran Springs Road,” the sheriff’s department said.
There was no survivor.
The cause of the crash is yet unknown.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration said they were investigating the accident.
The crash occurred 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.
