Three people were killed when an NBC4 Los Angeles helicopter crashed and exploded in flames near the site of a fatal SUV-Metro bus collision in Chatsworth on Tuesday evening, officials said.
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NBC4 reported earlier that it was unable to make contact with its helicopter crew.
At shortly after 9 p.m., anchor Colleen Williams became visibly emotional as she confirmed that the helicopter held an NBC4 crew.
The three people who died included one person on the ground in the 9100 block of Mason Avenue, according to Jennifer Middleton, spokesperson with the Los Angeles Fire Department. A fourth person was hospitalized, she said.
A heavy police and fire presence filled the warehouse parking lot where the helicopter slammed into the ground in an industrial area of Chatsworth. Black smoke could be seen rising from behind a building. Several police helicopters circled overhead.
One witness described the downed helicopter as “swaying” right before the crash.
Fifty-six firefighters responded to the inferno. Four cars and two storage containers were damaged by the fire, LAFD said.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration will handle the investigation.
The helicopter was in “uncontrolled airspace” before the crash, an aviation expert told NBC4 live, so there was no necessity to be in contact with air traffic control. But pilots would have been able to communicate helicopter-to-helicopter, which is done so no one would be surprised by any other helicopter’s maneuvers.
It was not immediately clear if any type of mayday call was issued.
Earlier Tuesday, three people were killed and five others injured nearby when an SUV crashed into a Metro bus in Chatsworth.
The bus crash occurred just after 5 p.m. in the 20900 block of Nordhoff Street, near De Soto Avenue, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Video from the scene showed firefighters tending to multiple patients, and frantically working to free a woman who was trapped inside the bus. She was eventually freed and quickly loaded into an ambulance in unknown condition with what crews on scene described as “crushing” injuries.
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A large number of ambulances and fire engines responded to that scene,as well.
It was unclear what caused either the SUV-Metro crash or the helicopter crash.
City News Service contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Please check back for more.
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