An NBC Los Angeles news helicopter crashed in the San Fernando Valley area of the city on Wednesday while covering a fatal bus collision, taking the death toll from the two incidents to three.
The helicopter went down in a parking lot near the 9100 block of North Mason Avenue in Chatsworth, close to the site of an earlier crash in which an SUV had slammed into a Metro bus, killing three people and injuring six others.
Footage from inside the aircraft showed it apparently losing control moments before it crashed between two commercial buildings, landing on or near several vehicles and shipping containers. A large fire broke out on impact, visuals shared on social media showed.
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#BREAKING | US News Helicopter Covering Deadly Bus Accident Crashes, 3 Killed https://t.co/ZeUqOhqe15
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Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Branden Silverman confirmed one person dead at the scene, saying the victim appeared to have been outside the helicopter at the time of the crash, CBC reported.
"We're trying to determine how many patients were inside the helicopter," Silverman said, adding that the aircraft had been badly damaged in the crash, Hindustan Times reported.
Firefighters had to search through the wreckage to establish how many people, if any, were aboard the aircraft, with the exact number of occupants not immediately confirmed.
NBC Los Angeles confirmed that the crashed aircraft was its own news helicopter, KNBC, and said it was having trouble reaching its pilot and crew on board.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said the crash occurred around 7 p.m. at 9151 North Mason Avenue, between two commercial buildings, with the helicopter reportedly coming down on top of shipping containers and several parked vehicles.
The helicopter had been covering the earlier bus crash, in which the SUV was left partially lodged inside the Metro bus, when it came down near the scene as emergency crews were still responding.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have been notified and are assisting with the investigation, while the Los Angeles Police Department is also probing the helicopter crash separately.
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