NBC News helicopter crashes in Los Angeles, killing three

LOS ANGELES – An NBC Los Angeles news helicopter crashed in the Chatsworth area of Los Angeles in the evening on Sept 15, killing three people and injuring a fourth, NBC said during a live broadcast.

NBC Los Angeles anchors on air identified the aircraft as their NewsChopper 4 helicopter.

“We’ve been telling you that we’ve been piecing it together here. We knew it was a news chopper. We knew we’d lost contact with our people out there, and we’ve just received the confirmation that, in fact, NewsChopper 4 went down just before 7 o’clock tonight in Chatsworth,” NBC anchor Colleen Williams said.

Four patients were assessed at the scene, with three pronounced dead and one transported to a local hospital in an unknown condition, according to the Los Angeles fire department.

The NBC anchors did not say how many people had been on board the network’s helicopter.

The US National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the crash, the fire department said.

The helicopter crash occurred after a vehicle collision in the area involving a Los Angeles Metro bus and a passenger vehicle earlier on Sept 15 that killed at least two people.

According to several media reports, the helicopter involved in the crash was a television news helicopter, as several TV news helicopters were in the area reporting on the bus collision.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said she was “devastated” by the loss of life in the helicopter crash and the bus collision in Chatsworth, thanking emergency responders for their swift response.

NBC, owned by Comcast, and the Los Angeles Fire Department did not immediately respond to e-mailed requests for further details. REUTERS