The chief executive of one of Nigeria’s largest banks is believed to have been killed along with his wife and son when a helicopter they were riding in crashed in Southern California’s Mojave Desert.
Herbert Wigwe, chief executive of Access Bank, and his family were among six people on board when the charter flight went down shortly after 10pm on Friday near Interstate 15, close to the California-Nevada border.
The others killed were two pilots and a fourth passenger, named as Bamofin Abimbola Ogunbanjo, former chair of NGX Group, the Nigerian stock exchange.
The deaths of Mr Wigwe, his family and Mr Ogunbanjo were confirmed by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a former Nigerian finance minister who is now the director-general of the World Trade Organisation.
“Terribly saddened by the news of the terrible loss of Herbert Wigwe… his wife and son as well as Bimbo Ogunbanjo in a helicopter crash,” Mr Okonjo-Iweala wrote in a post on X. “May the souls of the departed rest in perfect peace.”
‘A terrible blow’ for Nigeria and Africa’s banking industry
Mr Wigwe, 57, was widely seen as an industry leader, having been involved in two of the country’s biggest banks, including Guaranty Trust Bank, where he was previously executive director.
His death is “a terrible blow” for Nigeria and Africa’s banking industry, Nigerian presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga wrote on X. “Wigwe had a big vision to make Access Holdings (the parent company) Africa’s biggest, with all the unquenchable thirst for acquisitions.”
‘This is surreal’
Mr Wigwe’s interests also spanned the education sector. His private university, founded in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region where he was from, is due to open in September. Last year he said the university was “an opportunity for me to give back to society.”
“This is surreal and I am lost for words,” Festus Keyamo, Nigeria’s minister of aviation and aerospace development, wrote in a post on X.
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The aircraft, an Airbus EC-130, left Palm Springs Airport at around 8.45pm on Friday and was travelling to Boulder City, Nevada, according to reports.
Boulder City is about 26 miles (40 km) southeast of Las Vegas, where the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers are set to play in Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday.
Michael Graham of the National Transportation Safety Board
Michael Graham from the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash, said witnesses reported that it was raining with a “wintry mix” at the time of the crash.
People also reported a fire on the helicopter as well as some downed power lines.
The crash came three days after a US Marine Corps helicopter went down in the mountains outside San Diego during historic downpours, killing five Marines.
US
Brother pays tribute to relatives killed in Hudson River helicopter crash – as cause remains unclear
The brother of a woman killed alongside her family in a helicopter crash in the Hudson River has said they died “without suffering”, and thrown flowers into the water in their memory.
Joan Camprubi’s sister, Merce Camprubi Montal, 39, died alongside her husband Agustin Escobar, 49, and their three children after the aircraft broke apart and plunged into the water in New York City on Thursday.
The helicopter’s pilot, Sean Johnson, was also killed.
New York Mayor Eric Adams accompanied Joan Camprubi to speak to reporters next to the Hudson River. Pic: AP
New York Police scuba teams have been searching for debris from the crash. Pic: AP
Mr Camprubi said the family, from Barcelona, Spain, “left together” and “without suffering” following the sightseeing flight over the city. “As a family, we want to [remember] and honour their happiness and their smile forever,” he added.
One of their children, Mercedes, was due to celebrate her ninth birthday on Friday, the day after the crash. The other children were Victor, who was four, and 10-year-old Agustin.
Mr Camprubi told reporters on Saturday: “We will never forget you. And we will keep your smile alive every day of our lives. And that, I think, is the greatest legacy that we can give.”
Agustin Escobar and Merce Camprubi Montal. Pic: Facebook
New York Mayor Eric Adams joined Mr Camprubi to throw flowers and lamented that “what should have been a joyful vacation turned into an unimaginable tragedy”.
He also paid tribute to Mr Johnson, a former US Navy Seal, but said “no words can fill the void, the loss” that bereaved relatives are enduring.
Pic: AP
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators have not yet determined the cause of the crash.
There were reports of a loud boom when the aircraft, a Bell 206, broke apart, and officials previously said they were looking into reports of a large flock of birds being seen beforehand.
As divers continued to pull pieces of the wreckage from the Hudson on Saturday, NTSB officials said they were checking the flight control system. The helicopter was not equipped with any black box flight recorders.
Its main rotor, main gear box, tail rotor, and a large portion of the tail boom are still missing, the NTSB said.
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Witness saw ‘parts flying off’ helicopter
Witnesses, including Aleesha Alam, described seeing the main rotor blade flying off moments before it dropped out of the sky.
The main fuselage, including the cockpit and cabin, the forward portion of the tail boom, the horizontal stabiliser finlets, and the vertical fin have been recovered.
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The helicopter had last been inspected on 1 March and completed seven tour flights earlier on Thursday.
The accident took place during the aircraft’s eighth flight of the day, according to the NTSB.
It comes less than three months after 67 people died when an army helicopter and American Airlines jet collided over the Potomac River in Washington DC.
Iran says “indirect talks” over the country’s rapidly advancing nuclear programme have taken place with US officials, with more to come next week.
The discussions on Saturday took place in Muscat, Oman, with the host nation’s officials mediating between representatives of Iran and the US, who were seated in separate rooms, according to Esmail Baghaei, a spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry.
After the talks concluded, Oman and Iranian officials reported that Iran and the US had had agreed to hold more negotiations next week.
Oman’s foreign minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi tweeted after the meeting, thanking Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff for joining the negotiations aimed at “global peace, security and stability”.
“We will continue to work together and put further efforts to assist in arriving at this goal,” he added.
(L-R) Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi meets his Omani counterpart Sayyid Badr Albusaidi. Pic: Iranian foreign ministry/AP
Iranian state media claimed the US and Iranian officials “briefly spoke in the presence of the Omani foreign minister” at the end of the talks – a claim Mr Araghchi echoed in a statement on Telegram.
He added the talks took place in a “constructive atmosphere based on mutual respect” and that they would continue next week.
American officials did not immediately acknowledge the reports from Iran.
Mr Araghchi said before the meeting on Saturday there was a “chance for initial understanding on further negotiations if the other party [US] enters the talks with an equal stance”.
He told Iran’s state TV: “Our intention is to reach a fair and honourable agreement – from an equal footing.
“And if the other side has also entered from the same position, God willing, there will be a chance for an initial agreement that can lead to a path of negotiations.”
Reuters news agency said an Omani source told it the talks were focused on de-escalating regional tensions, prisoner exchanges and limited agreements to ease sanctions in exchange for controlling Iran’s nuclear programme.
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Trump on Monday: ‘We’re in direct talks with Iran’
President Donald Trump has insisted Tehran cannot get nuclear weapons.
He said on Monday that the talks would be direct, but Tehran officials insisted it would be conducted through an intermediary.
Mr Trump also warned Iran would be in “great danger” if negotiations fail.
“Hopefully those talks will be successful, it would be in Iran’s best interests if they are successful,” he said. “We hope that’s going to happen.”
He added Iran “cannot have a nuclear weapon, and if the talks aren’t successful, I actually think it will be a very bad day for Iran”.
The comments came after Mr Trump’s previous warnings of possible military action against Iran if there is no deal over its nuclear programme.
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Saturday’s meeting marked the first between the countries since Mr Trump’s second term in the White House began.
During his first term, he withdrew the US from a deal between Iran and world powers designed to curb Iran’s nuclear work in exchange for sanctions relief.
He also reimposed US sanctions.
Iran has since far surpassed that deal’s limits on uranium enrichment.
Tehran insists its nuclear programme is wholly for civilian energy purposes but Western powers accuse it of having a clandestine agenda.
Mr Witkoff came from talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin on Friday, as the US tries to broker an end to the war in Ukraine.
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