Seven people including US billionaire killed in helicopter crash near Bahamas

Seven people died in a helicopter crash near the Bahamas on Thursday, the Royal Bahamas Police Force said in a statement Friday. The RBPF did not identify any of the victims.

West Virginia coal billionaire and philanthropist Chris Cline was among the seven who died during the crash, that state's governor said.

"Today we lost a WV superstar and I lost a very close friend," the governor of West Virginia, Jim Justice, wrote on Twitter, confirming Chris Cline's death.

The businessman "built an empire and on every occasion was always there to give. What a wonderful, loving, and giving man," Justice said.

Cline grew up in a coal family -- his father and grandfather worked at mines.

He started working as an underground miner in West Virginia in 1980 at age 22, and a decade later founded his energy development company, the Cline Group.

Police said a helicopter took off from Big Grand Cay around 2 a.m. Thursday and was reported missing around 2:50 p.m. when it didn't arrive in Fort Lauderdale, its intended destination.

Police officers and residents of Grand Cay discovered the aircraft overturned in 16 feet of water about two miles off Grand Cay in the Abacos and recovered the bodies of four females and three males, police said.

The Department of Civil Aviation, the Royal Bahamas Police and the Defense Force are investigating the crash.