Heirs of Czech Billionaire File Lawsuit in Alaska for Full Investigation into Chopper Crash

Overview of the site of the 2021 Alaska Airbus AS350 B3 helicopter crash from the NTSB preliminary report. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

In a statement issued by Kellner's investment group PPF, the family explained that given the accident occurred on March 27, 2021 and the two-year statute of limitations for filing civil lawsuits was going to expire under US law, the family decided it had no choice but to file a lawsuit before then on March 24.

"The family of Mrs Kellnerova originally wanted to withhold any potential legal action until the publication of the official report on the accident by the US authorities, namely the National Transportation Safety Board, on the circumstances of the tragedy," it said. "However, after more than two years the investigation is still ongoing."

Kellner, Czechia's richest man with a net worth estimated at 17.5 billion dollars (14.8 billion euros) by Forbes when he died at the age of 56, was killed along with four others when their Airbus AS350 B3 chopper came down during a heli-skiing trip to the Knik Glacier, around 80 kilometres east of the city of Anchorage, reportedly in bad weather. A sixth person survived. Kellner himself also survived the crash, court filings show, but died during the approximately six hours it took rescuers to reach the scene.

The sudden death left uncertain the fate of a sprawling business empire encompassing financial services, telecommunications, media, engineering, biotech and real estate, which stretches from the Czech Republic, through Central and Eastern Europe, to Russia and China. The family owns almost 99 per cent of the investment company that has assets totalling more than 40 billion euros.

The lawsuit filed in the Anchorage Superior Court is "seeking to...

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