Prominent Nigerian banker, family among 6 killed in helicopter crash in California

In this image taken from a National Transportation Safety Board video, Michael Graham of the NTSB, which is investigating a deadly helicopter crash that happened in Southern California’s Mojave Desert speaks to the media in Barstow, Calif., Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024. The CEO of one of Nigeria’s largest banks along with his wife and son were among those killed in Friday’s crash. (National Transportation Safety Board via AP)

BURBANK – Federal investigators on Sunday were looking into the cause of a Burbank-based helicopter crash in the desert that killed six, including an influential member of Nigeria’s financial sector.

Herbert Onyewumbu Wigwe, CEO of Access Bank and an influential figure in Nigeria’s financial sector, died along with his wife and their son Friday night in the crash. Abimbola Ogunbanjo, former Nigerian Exchange Group chair, also died in the crash.

On Sunday, investigators spent their first full day in the desert 75 miles northeast of Barstow and are picking up the pieces today of a helicopter that took off from Palm Springs.

All the major components of the Airbus Eurocopter EC130 helicopter were recovered Sunday at the crash site, including the three main rotor blades, the main transmission, the tail rotor, landing gear skids and various avionics components, National Transportation Safety Board Member Michael Graham told reporters.

NTSB flight-tracking data shoed the helicopter traveling along I-15 about 1000 to 1,500 feet above ground and near the end of the flight the helicopter took a slight right turn, turning south of the interstate, and then had a gradual descent and increasing ground speed before flight data ended about a quarter-mile from the wreckage, Graham said. “The wreckage site shows the helicopter impacted the terrain in a nose-low, right-bank angle.”

The wreckage will be moved Tuesday to a secure location for further examination, he said.

NTSB meteorologists now concur with witnesses who noted there was rain and wintery mist in the area at the time of the crash, said Graham.

The crash was reported at 10:08 p.m. Friday about a quarter-mile east of Interstate 15 near Halloran Springs Road, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and National Transportation Safety Board Member Michael Graham.

The Airbus Eurocopter EC130 helicopter had taken off from Palm Springs at 8:45 p.m. en route to Boulder City, Nevada, according to Graham. The French-made helicopter was chartered from Orbit Air, LLC in Burbank, he said.

“This is the beginning of a long process,” Graham said of the federal investigation. Investigators will start at the crash scene “gathering perishable evidence,” and the probe will likely take 12 to 24 months to complete.

The passengers on board the helicopter were identified as 57-year-old Dr. Herbert Onyewumbu Wigwe, Group CEO of Nigeria-based Access Bank, along with his wife and son, as well as Abimbola Ogunbanjo, a former chair of Nigerian Exchange Group, according to CBS News. The pilot and copilot were not yet identified.

The NTSB planned to investigate media reports of downed power lines in the area and witness reports of rain and “wintery mist,” Graham said.

Witnesses reported seeing fire in the crash area, he said.

“May the souls of the departed rest in perfect peace,” Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, World Trade Organization Director General, posted on social media. “My deepest sympathies and condolences to the Wigwe family, the Ogunbanjo family, Access Bank Group employees and Management.”

“The news of the passing of the chief executive officer of Access Bank Holdings, Dr. Herbert Wigwe, who died in a helicopter crash in the United States of America, has left me extremely shocked and devastated,” said Godwin Obaseki, governor of Edo State, located in the South-South geopolitical zone of the federal republic of Nigeria.

“We also unfortunately lost Wigwe’s wife and son, as well as the former group chairman of Nigeria Stock Exchange, Abimbola Ogunbanjo, in the crash,” he said.

“Wigwe was a colossus in Nigeria’s financial sector, leading Access Bank to become an international brand that placed Nigeria on the global map of first-class financial services,” Obaseki said. “The tragic incident is painful and heart-wrenching, and we pray for God’s abiding comfort in this profoundly difficult time.” (With CNS report)