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Billionaire coal magnate among 7 Americans killed in helicopter crash
By Ben Feuerherd
July 5, 2019 | 12:07am | Updated
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Chris ClineGetty Images
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A billionaire West Virginia coal tycoon was among seven Americans killed in a helicopter crash off the coast of the Bahamas on Thursday evening, according to local officials and reports.
Chris Cline, 61, a former coal miner who turned his Foresight Energy company into a billion-dollar operation in 2015, was killed in the crash at about 5 p.m. local time, the Palm Beach Post reported.
Cline was also a noted philanthropist in his native West Virginia. The state’s governor, Jim Justice, mourned Cline in a statement on Thursday evening.
“Today we lost a WV superstar and I lost a very close friend,” Justice wrote on Twitter. “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.”
Bahamian officials told The Post the helicopter went down off the coast of Big Cay, killing seven people. The helicopter was en route to Fort Lauderdale, the official said.
It was not immediately clear who else was on board, and the cause of the crash is under investigation.
Billionaire coal magnate among 7 Americans killed in helicopter crash
By Ben Feuerherd
July 5, 2019 | 12:07am | Updated
Enlarge Image
Chris ClineGetty Images
MORE ON:
HELICOPTER CRASHES
Doomed chopper pilot thought he had '20-minute window' to get out of city
Schumer calls for 'black boxes' in helicopters after fatal NYC crash
De Blasio calls for ban on helicopters flying over Manhattan
Chopper pilot radioed he was lost before fatal crash-landing on NYC building
A billionaire West Virginia coal tycoon was among seven Americans killed in a helicopter crash off the coast of the Bahamas on Thursday evening, according to local officials and reports.
Chris Cline, 61, a former coal miner who turned his Foresight Energy company into a billion-dollar operation in 2015, was killed in the crash at about 5 p.m. local time, the Palm Beach Post reported.
Cline was also a noted philanthropist in his native West Virginia. The state’s governor, Jim Justice, mourned Cline in a statement on Thursday evening.
“Today we lost a WV superstar and I lost a very close friend,” Justice wrote on Twitter. “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.”
Bahamian officials told The Post the helicopter went down off the coast of Big Cay, killing seven people. The helicopter was en route to Fort Lauderdale, the official said.
It was not immediately clear who else was on board, and the cause of the crash is under investigation.
