San Francisco, Micro-blogging site Twitter went abuzz on Monday after US President Donald Trump posted a tweet mourning the death of basketball great Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, as his tweet was suspiciously similar to the one posted a few hours earlier by his predecessor Barack Obama.
“Kobe was a legend on the court and just getting started in what would have been just as meaningful a second act. To lose Gianna is even more heartbreaking to us as parents. Michelle and I send love and prayers to Vanessa and the entire Bryant family on an unthinkable day,” Obama had tweeted on Monday.
A few hours later, Trump posted: “Kobe Bryant, despite being one of the truly great basketball players of all time, was just getting started in life. He loved his family so much, and had such strong passion for the future. The loss of his beautiful daughter, Gianna, makes this moment even more devastating….”
It may be noted that Trump shared the same tribute to Bryant on both Facebook-owned Instagram and on Twitter.
Retired NBA star Kobe Bryant was one of five people killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas of Southern California on Sunday.
“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, while there were no survivors in the Calabasas helicopter crash, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department tweeted.
According to reports, Bryant was travelling with at least three other people in his private helicopter when it went down. CNN later confirmed Bryant’s death. He was 41.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies arrived at the scene near Las Virgenes Road and Willow Glen Street at around 10 a.m., the department said.
