A helicopter operated by an NBC affiliate crashed and caught fire on Tuesday evening in the San Fernando Valley, resulting in three fatalities and one injury. The aircraft was en route to cover a fatal collision between a city bus and an SUV when it went down near a storage building in the Chatsworth neighborhood, northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
Branden Silverman, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Department, confirmed that emergency crews responded to the scene and quickly extinguished the flames. He reported that at least one victim died in the adjacent parking lot, but noted uncertainty regarding the location of the other two deceased individuals.
“We’re trying to determine how many patients were inside the helicopter,” Silverman stated, emphasizing that officials are currently examining the wreckage to establish the full toll.
The aircraft, identified as NewsChopper4, had been heading toward the site of the bus-SUV crash, which had already claimed two lives. Reporters on the ground indicated the helicopter impacted approximately one mile from the initial accident scene. While identities of the crew have not yet been released, NBC reported that attempts to contact them have been unsuccessful.
Both the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have launched investigations to determine the cause of the crash. Helicopter news coverage is a common sight in Los Angeles, the second-largest city in the United States.
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