Czech Republic’s richest man killed in helicopter crash near Alaskan glacier

Ben Possehl/Unsplash
Leah Sinclair29 March 2021

Petr Kellner, the Czech Republic’s richest man, has been killed in a helicopter crash.

The billionaire is among the five people killed after a helicopter crashed near an Alaskan glacier.

The Airbus AS350 B3 helicopter was carrying ski guides and guests including the businessman from Tordrillo Mountain Lodge on a heli-skiing trip.

The Alaska Department Of Public Safety said Alaska State Troopers received a report on Saturday night of an overdue helicopter and possible crash debris near the Knik Glacier,

A rescue team was dispatched and found Mr Kellner and four others dead, the department of public safety said.

Alaska State Troopers identified the victims as Mr Kellner, 56; ski-guide Gregory Harms, 52; guest Benjamin Larochaix, 50; ski-guide Sean McMannany, 38 and pilot, Zachary Russel, 33.

A sixth person on board was found alive and transported to a hospital.

The department of public safety said they are in serious but stable condition, as of Sunday afternoon.

Mr Kellner’s death was announced by his financial group PPF.

He made his first fortune in the 1990s through the launch of an investment fund that he used to buy a controlling stake in the country’s largest insurance company.

Mr Kellner bought a European broadcast network, Central European Media Enterprises, for $1.1bn last October.

His net worth has been estimated at $17.5bn by Forbes.

A spokesperson for the lodge said Mr Harms was a pioneering heli-ski guide in Alaska and worked for many years at the lodge.

“Greg was one of the most experienced guides in the business,” Ms Pruitt said in an email to The Associated Press.

Mr McMannany had been a guide for over 10 years and was also an avalanche instructor and an experienced mountain guide.

Mr Kellner and Mr Larochaix “were loyal and frequent” guests at the lodge, she said.

Mr Russel was a pilot for Soloy Helicopters, a Wasilla-based company that is contracted by the lodge to provide transportation, Ms Pruitt said.

“This news is devastating to our staff, the community in which we operate and the families of the deceased,” the lodge said in a statement.

“In 17 years of operations this is the first time we’ve had to face an event of this measure.”

The Alaska Army National Guard and volunteers from the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group recovered the bodies from the crash site on Sunday and turned them over to the state medical examiner.

A temporary flight restriction placed over the glacier has been lifted, troopers said.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the case of the crash.

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