Los Angeles: American basketball legend Kobe Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash that also claimed the life of his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and three others on Sunday, local media reported.
Citing multiple media reports, Variety reported that the four were en route to Gianna's basketball game in Thousand Oaks city when the incident took place.
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In a statement, the FAA has said that S-76 helicopter with five people on board crashed near the Los Angeles suburb of Calabasas under "unknown circumstances".
"It is with great sadness that we learn of the death of Kobe Bryant and four others in a helicopter crash in Calabasas," the City of Calabasas confirmed on its official Twitter account, the Xinhua news agency reported.
The aircraft went down in a remote field off Las Virgenes around 10 a.m. Nobody on the ground was hurt, the city tweeted.
Five people were confirmed deceased, no survivors in Calabasas helicopter crash, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department tweeted.
CNN later confirmed Bryant's death. He was 41. There has been no word from his family so far.
Deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department responded to the scene near Las Virgenes Road and Willow Glen Street at around 10 a.m., the department tweeted.
Flames that erupted in the crash have been extinguished. The investigation is underway.
41-year-old Bryant had won five National Basketball Association (NBA) championships in his 20-year-long career while playing for Los Angeles Lakers.
US President Donald Trump has reacted to Bryant's death, calling it "terrible news".
