News helicopter crashes in Los Angeles, killing 3 people
Three Killed After News Helicopter Goes Down in Chatsworth
Qwenews.com – A helicopter assigned to aerial news coverage crashed Tuesday evening in Chatsworth, a Los Angeles neighborhood roughly 25 miles northwest of downtown, killing at least three people and injuring others.
The aircraft came down shortly before 7 p.m. in a commercial area while covering a fatal bus collision nearby. It was operating for NBC4 and Telemundo 52. The impact ignited a fire near vehicles and large cargo containers, sending flames and thick smoke into the air.
Los Angeles Fire Department crews extinguished the blaze after responding with more than 70 firefighters. Four vehicles and two storage containers sustained damage in the crash area.
Victims and injuries
Officials pronounced three people dead at the scene. At least two additional people were taken to a hospital with injuries. Authorities did not immediately release the identities of all those killed or injured.
NBC4 identified two members of the helicopter crew as aerial photojournalist and reporter Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw. Moreno joined Angel City Air, the aircraft operator, in September 2010 and had worked for several Southern California news organizations during her career.
Fire Captain Branden Silverman said one of the people killed was a pedestrian in a parking lot near the crash site. Los Angeles Police Department officers helped remove that person from the fire.
The helicopter was heavily damaged, complicating the immediate effort to identify victims and confirm the aircraft’s registration information from the wreckage.
Station pauses coverage after losing contact
Earlier Tuesday night, NBC4 anchor Colleen Williams told viewers that the station had lost contact with its helicopter crew while the team was covering the bus crash. Later, she confirmed during a live broadcast that the incident involved the station’s aircraft.
“We are going to take a couple of minutes to think about that, to process and to regroup,”
The station temporarily moved to other programming after the announcement. NBC4 and Telemundo 52 later issued a joint statement expressing grief over the fatal accident and offering condolences to the relatives, friends and coworkers of those who died.
Federal investigation begins
The cause of the crash has not been determined. The National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation, with an investigator expected to arrive at the scene Wednesday morning. The Federal Aviation Administration is also participating in the inquiry.
FAA records identify the helicopter as a 2004 Eurocopter AS350 B2, a single-engine utility aircraft commonly used for a range of commercial and operational purposes. Investigators will examine the wreckage, the flight’s circumstances and other available evidence as they work to establish what led to the crash.
Officials urged the public to avoid reaching conclusions before investigators complete their work. Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath emphasized that the immediate focus should remain on the victims, emergency personnel and the surrounding community.
“There are serious questions about what happened tonight.”
“Tonight is not the time to speculate about those answers, tonight is the time to care for the people who are hurting, to support our first responders and to stand together as a community,”
A traumatic night for the community
The helicopter crash unfolded during an already devastating evening in Chatsworth because of the nearby fatal Metro bus collision. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass visited the scene and described the events as a profound tragedy for the city.
“This is a very, very, very tragic day in Los Angeles,”
Bass said her thoughts were with the families and friends of everyone lost in the bus collision and the helicopter crash. California Gov. Gavin Newsom also shared condolences for the victims, their families and the NBC4 community.
For residents and workers near the commercial area, the incident brought a major emergency response and visible fire damage close to parked cars and storage containers. The rapid response by firefighters and police prevented the scene from continuing to burn, but investigators now face the difficult task of documenting the site and determining the sequence of events.
As the inquiry moves forward, authorities are expected to provide further information about the victims, the aircraft and the circumstances surrounding the flight. The crash has left a local news community, first responders and the wider Los Angeles area mourning those killed while underscoring the danger faced by crews working in the air during breaking-news coverage.
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