World
Three Dead as News Helicopter Crashes While Covering Bus Crash in Los Angeles
A television news helicopter operated by NBC4 Los Angeles crashed and caught fire in the Chatsworth neighborhood on Tuesday evening, killing three people, station officials and authorities said. Two of the victims were aboard the aircraft, while a third person was killed on the ground.
NBC4 anchor Colleen Williams disclosed the crash during a live broadcast, telling viewers the station had lost contact with the crew of its NewsChopper4 shortly before 7 p.m. "We knew it was a news chopper. We knew we'd lost contact with our people out there, and we've just received the confirmation that, in fact, NewsChopper 4 went down just before 7 o'clock tonight in Chatsworth," Williams said before the broadcast was cut short.
The helicopter went down roughly 1.6 kilometers from the scene of an earlier collision between an SUV and a Metro bus, which the crew had been covering. That crash killed at least two people and injured six others, according to officials. Authorities have not released the identities of the two people who were aboard the helicopter.
Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Branden Silverman said at least one victim of the helicopter crash was found in a parking lot next to a commercial building, though it was not immediately clear whether the other two victims had been inside the aircraft or on the ground. Silverman described the helicopter as "pretty well destroyed." One person was taken to a hospital; their condition has not been disclosed.
The crash also set at least four vehicles and two storage containers ablaze, though firefighters extinguished the flames quickly. More than 50 firefighters responded to the scene, the Los Angeles Fire Department said. Crews subsequently searched through the wreckage to determine the number of casualties.
The National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation into the crash, with assistance from the Federal Aviation Administration, officials said.