A helicopter carrying seven American citizens crashed Thursday evening off the coast of Big Cay island in the Bahamas. According to Bahamian officials, the chopper was en route to Fort Lauderdale, Florida when it went down.
Among those killed was noted billionaire philanthropist Chris Cline of West Virginia. Cline made his fortune in 2015 when he went public with his company Foresight Energy. He had previously worked as a coal miner.
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice mourned his friend on Twitter Thursday evening saying, “Today we lost a WV superstar and I lost a very close friend. Our families go back to the beginning of the Cline empire – Pioneer Fuel. Chris Cline built an empire and on every occasion was always there to give. What a wonderful, loving, and giving man.”
Today we lost a WV superstar and I lost a very close friend. Our families go back to the beginning of the Cline empire – Pioneer Fuel. Chris Cline built an empire and on every occasion was always there to give. What a wonderful, loving, and giving man.
— Governor Jim Justice (@WVGovernor) July 5, 2019
Names of the other victims have not yet been released. The cause of the crash was not immediately known, but an investigation is underway.
