Medical examiners identified the body of NBA legend Kobe Bryant among helicopter crash victims through use of fingerprints, officials said on Tuesday.
Bryant's remains as well as those of three others on board the aircraft were identified two days after the helicopter crashed into a rugged hillside northwest of Los Angeles, killing nine.
The bodies of pilot Ara Zobayan, baseball coach John Altobelli and Sarah Chester have also been identified, the Los Angeles County coroner's office said in a statement.
The remaining five bodies have not yet been officially identified.
Earlier, officials said that the helicopter was not equipped with vital software that alerts pilots when aircraft are too close to the ground.
The terrain awareness and warning system (TAWS), which is designed to send a warning when a collision appears imminent, had not been installed on Bryant's Sikorsky S-76 helicopter, the National Transport Safety Board's (NTSB) Jennifer Homendy said.
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"Certainly, TAWS could have helped," NBC News reported Homendy as saying, adding that she could not conclude that its use would have prevented the crash.
The warning system is not mandatory on helicopters under Federal Aviation Administration regulations, despite the NTSB recommending that it be made so on all helicopters with six or more passenger seats, following a 2004 crash.
Meanwhile federal investigators finished their inspection of the crash site, handing it over to local authorities.
Images showed investigators flying drones over the accident site and manually combing through twisted, charred wreckage, which was scattered over a wide area.
Officials also used drones to replicate the helicopter's final, fateful flight path, Homendy said.
Earlier, on Tuesday, the coroner's office confirmed all nine bodies have been retrieved from the site and "transported to the department's forensic science center" for examination.
The death of Bryant—a five-time NBA champion for the LA Lakers and double Olympic gold medallist—has shocked the world, with tributes continuing to pour in Tuesday.
