Tragedy strikes twice in Los Angeles as a news helicopter goes down while covering a fatal bus wreck, leaving multiple dead and injured

A Los Angeles news helicopter crashed near the scene of a deadly bus collision. The incident ended up killing three people and injuring another as emergency crews were still working nearby. The helicopter went down in Chatsworth and burst into flames, adding another fatal crash to an already active emergency scene.

The aircraft was covering the nearby collision when it crashed between two commercial buildings. Per NBC, the helicopter was operated for NBC4 and Telemundo 52, and the station confirmed during its coverage that its NewsChopper4 had gone down.

Los Angeles firefighters said three people were killed in the helicopter crash, while another person was taken to a hospital. The crash also damaged four vehicles and two storage containers, with firefighters responding to a fire that had engulfed the aircraft.

The helicopter was covering another deadly crash

The first emergency involved an SUV that collided with a Metro bus in Chatsworth. Two people were killed and six others were hospitalized in that collision, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The helicopter went down less than a mile from the bus crash site. Firefighters found the aircraft near the 9100 block of Mason Avenue, between two commercial buildings, with flames spreading to nearby property.

NBC4 anchor Colleen Williams confirmed the station’s helicopter had crashed during a live broadcast. “We are going to take a couple of minutes to think about that, process it,” Williams told viewers as the station responded to the news.

The circumstances surrounding the deaths were not immediately clear. Fire department spokesperson Branden Silverman said one person killed in the crash appeared to have been outside the helicopter when it came down.

“We do have one confirmed patient that seemed to be outside of the helicopter when it crashed,” Silverman said. That person was pronounced dead at the scene, while officials had not immediately determined where the other two victims had been.

Officials also had not established how many people were aboard the helicopter when it crashed. NBC4 later confirmed the aircraft belonged to the station, but the victims’ identities were being withheld while authorities worked to notify their next of kin.

The helicopter crash triggered a large response from Los Angeles firefighters. Crews extinguished the flames after the aircraft came down near the commercial buildings, with the fire department reporting damage to vehicles and storage containers in the area.

The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the crash. They are expected to lead the investigation and shed some light into what caused the aircraft to go down.