Selasa, 24 Desember 2013

Chinese Billionaire And French Winemaker Die In Helicopter Crash While ...

AFP/MEHDI FEDOUACHFrance has stepped up its search for the two missing businessmen and their interpreter after the body of the Chinese billionaire's son is pulled from wreckage

A massive search continued for the bodies of a Chinese billionaire and a French winemaker who died in a helicopter crash after going on a flight to celebrate the sale of an historic Bordeaux chateau.


Police have found only the body of hotel magnate Lam Kok's 12-year-old son, whose remains were pulled out of the wreckage after the helicopter plunged on Friday into the Dordogne river in the southwest of the country.


Mr Kok's interpreter was also on board the aircraft piloted by Mr Gregoire, who was taking the Chinese businessman on a tour of the Chateau de La Riviere estate he had just purchased from him for a reported £25 million.


Police helicopters with thermal imaging cameras were hunting for the three missing bodies, while divers probed the fast-flowing Dordogne and more than 100 gendarmes with sniffer dogs searched the riverbanks.


The body of the yellow-and-black Robinson R44 helicopter was due to be lifted from the water on Monday. Officials said it would likely take weeks for the cause of the crash to be determined.


Mr Lam's wife, Liu Xiangyun, who had posed for photographs with the two men earlier in the day, pulled out of the flight at the last minute, saying she was 'scared of helicopters', according to eyewitnesses. By an unusual twist of fate, a previous owner of the Chateau de la Riviere was also killed in an aircraft crash in 2002.


Mr Gregoire's helicopter was on a short tour of the vineyard and the grounds of the chateau, which dates back to the 8th century and is associated with Emperor Charlemagne, also known as the King of the Franks.


Earlier in the day, Mr Gregoire had introduced Mr Lam to the chateau staff and hosted a dinner for him, as well as putting on a press conference for local media. When the helicopter flight did not return after 20 minutes, other people at the event contacted emergency services, who launched a search using emergency helicopters, police dogs and around 100 officers on foot. Witnesses to the crash said that shortly afterwards, they saw two people struggling in the river, which was in full winter flow.


Michel Galardini, 58, a local duck hunter, told the local newspaper, Sud Ouest: 'The helicopter was flying very low, only 10 or 15 metres over the water. I thought that was a bit strange.'


A few minutes later, he added, he heard a 'deafening crash'. 'There was a huge amount of foam and I could see two people struggling in the water.'


Officials from the French gendarmerie said that mangled parts of the chopper's fuselage had been retrieved, but that strong currents in the icy waters were complicating the search for the three missing.


Hong Kong-based Mr Lam and his wife were chief executive and president respectively of Brilliant Group, which originally specialised in rare teas and luxury hotels in China. Their purchase of the chateau was the biggest Chinese investment to date in Bordeaux wine, reflecting a growing taste for luxury vintages in newly-affluent China that has pushed wine prices to record levels.


Earlier in the day, Mr Gregoire had introduced Mr Lam to the chateau staff and hosted a dinner for him, as well as putting on a press conference for local media. When the helicopter flight did not return after 20 minutes, other people at the event contacted emergency services, who launched a search using emergency helicopters, police dogs and around 100 officers on foot. Witnesses to the crash said that shortly afterwards, they saw two people struggling in the river, which was in full winter flow.


Michel Galardini, 58, a local duck hunter, told the local newspaper, Sud Ouest: 'The helicopter was flying very low, only 10 or 15 metres over the water. I thought that was a bit strange.'


A few minutes later, he added, he heard a 'deafening crash'. 'There was a huge amount of foam and I could see two people struggling in the water.'


Officials from the French gendarmerie said that mangled parts of the chopper's fuselage had been retrieved, but that strong currents in the icy waters were complicating the search for the three missing.


Hong Kong-based Mr Lam and his wife were chief executive and president respectively of Brilliant Group, which originally specialised in rare teas and luxury hotels in China. Their purchase of the chateau was the biggest Chinese investment to date in Bordeaux wine, reflecting a growing taste for luxury vintages in newly-affluent China that has pushed wine prices to record levels.



This post originally appeared at The Telegraph. Copyright 2013. Follow The Telegraph on Twitter.


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