LOS ANGELES (AP) — A local NBC news helicopter crashed in a Los Angeles neighborhood on Tuesday and burst into flames, killing at least three people while reporters were covering the nearby crash of an SUV and a city bus, officials said.
Colleen Williams, an NBC4 Los Angeles anchor, confirmed during a live broadcast that the station’s chopper went down just before 7 p.m.
“We are going to take a couple of minutes to think about that, process it,” she said, her voice shaking with emotion. Moments later their coverage abruptly cut off.
The helicopter crashed near a storage building in the neighborhood of Chatsworth in the San Fernando Valley, as news crews were covering the bus crash that left at least two people dead and six others injured, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
At least one person killed in the helicopter crash was outside in the parking lot next to the commercial building, Capt. Branden Silverman, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Department, said during a news conference. It was unclear if the other two who were killed were on the ground or inside the aircraft.
One person was taken to the hospital, but their condition was not known.
“We’re trying to determine how many patients were inside the helicopter,” said Silverman, who described the helicopter as “pretty well destroyed” and adding that officials would be sorting through the rubble to see how many victims were on board.
