Chris Cline, a billionaire coal executive and an ex-boyfriend of pregnant model Elin Nordegren, died in a helicopter crash in the Bahamas on Thursday, July 4, just hours before his 61st birthday.
Seven aboard the helicopter died in the accident, including Cline’s daughter, according to NBC News.
The chopper departed for Fort Lauderdale, Florida, around 2 a.m. on Thursday and crashed near Grand Cay in the Abaco Islands. Authorities and Grand Cay residents found the aircraft overturned in 16 feet of water that afternoon.
West Virginia Governor Jim Justice announced the businessman’s death in a series of tweets on Thursday. “Today we lost a WV superstar and I lost a very close friend,” he wrote. “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.”
Nordegren, 39, dated Chris on and off for two years following her 2010 divorce from Tiger Woods, even going on double dates with the pro golfer and his then-girlfriend, Lindsey Vonn. Nordegren and Cline reunited for a skiing trip in Switzerland in March 2016.
Nowadays, Nordegren is expecting her third child and her first with her current boyfriend, former Miami Dolphins star Jordan Cameron. The incoming addition will join the Stockholm native’s daughter Sam, 12, and son Charlie, 10, whom she shares with Woods, 43.
Nordegren and Cameron have yet to publicly comment on their relationship, but a source told Us Weekly last month that they met more than a year ago and are “very happy” to be expecting a baby together.
The Swedish beauty is also enjoying living in the Sunshine State. “Elin maintains a low profile and has a normal, boring life,” an insider previously told Us. “Florida allows her to live that quiet life. I hear she’s surprised that people care this much that she’s pregnant.”
