Bryant's 13-year-old daughter Gianna was also killed in the crash but her body has not been identified.
Wednesday 29 January 2020 07:12, UK
Basketball great Kobe Bryant's body has been identified among a group of nine who were killed when a helicopter crashed in Los Angeles, the coroner said.
Investigators used fingerprints to identify the 41-year-old, the pilot, another man and a woman, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner said in a statement.
Bryant's 13-year-old daughter Gianna was also killed in the crash but her body has not been identified.
"Investigators are still working on identifying the five remaining (bodies)," the coroner said.
Bryant, a five-time NBA champion who played for the LA Lakers throughout his 20-year career, is widely considered to be among the greatest players in basketball history.
As investigators continue to scour the crash site in Los Angeles, tributes to the 41-year-old have been paid on social media and outside the Lakers home court at the Staples Centre.
Thousands of mourners gathered to pay tribute at a vigil, while fellow Laker LeBron James wrote of being "heartbroken and devastated" at the news.
The pilot of the helicopter told air traffic controllers he was climbing to avoid a layer of cloud shortly before the crash into a hillside in Calabasas, west of Los Angeles, on Sunday, according to the National Transport Safety Bureau (NTSB).
The "experienced" pilot Ara Zobayan received special clearance to fly in heavy fog in the minutes before the crash and was flying at 1,400 feet.
Radar data revealed he then climbed to 2,300 feet before beginning a left descending turn. The wreckage of the Sikorsky S-76B was found at 1,085 feet, the NTSB said.
Speaking at the same news conference, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said coroner's investigators had finished recovering the remains of all nine victims, and that positive identification had so far been made on four of them.
Besides Bryant and the pilot, Ara Zobayan, a commercial aviator and certified flight instructor with more than 8,200 hours of flight experience, medical examiners confirmed the identities of John Altobelli, an Orange Coast College baseball coach.
A fourth positive ID was made for Sarah Chester, who died in the crash with her 13-year-old daughter, Payton, another basketball player involved in the tournament.
Altobelli's wife, Keri, and their 13-year-old daughter, Alyssa, a teammate of Gianna Bryant, also were among the dead, along with an assistant coach, Christina Mauser.
