German-born American actor Christian Oliver, his two young daughters and the pilot died in a plane crash near an island in the Caribbean Sea. The announcement of the tragedy was made by the Royal Police of the Caribbean island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Variety reports. Oliver, whose real name was Christian Klepser and was born in Germany, was 51 years old and known as the protagonist of the TV series “Cobra 11” and the film “Speed Racer”.
His daughters Madita and Annik Klepser were 10 and 12 years old, respectively. Pilot Robert Sachs also died in the crash. They were the only passengers aboard a small, single-engine plane belonging to Sachs himself. The accident occurred on Thursday afternoon, January 4, one nautical mile west of Petit Nevis, a small island in the Grenadines. The aircraft took off from JF Mitchell Airport in Paget Farm, Bequia, an island in the Grenadines, at around 12:10 p.m., with St. Lucia as its final destination.
“A few moments after takeoff, the aircraft ran into difficulties and crashed into the sea,” Royal St. Vincent, the Grenadines police force, wrote in a statement. “Paget Farm fishermen and divers took their boats to the scene of the accident to provide assistance. The Coast Guard was notified and quickly traveled to Paget Farm in Bequia to lead the rescue operation. The bodies of Oliver, his daughters and Sachs were recovered by the Coast Guard and later pronounced dead by a medical examiner. They were transported to St. Vincent and taken to Kingstown Mortuary where autopsies will be conducted to determine the exact cause of death.
Oliver has dozens of achievements to his name from the 1990s to the 1920s. He most recently appeared in “Indiana Jones and the Curse of Destiny” last year and played race car driver Snake Oiler in “Speed Racer” (2008). He also had roles in Berlin Intrigue (2006), Operation Valkyrie (2008) and Ready or Not (2009). Growing up in Frankfurt am Main, Christian Oliver moved to the United States of America after coming of age to study acting, and in the meantime earned his living by working as a model. Since 1994 he has played as an extra in American television series.