At least three people were killed when a helicopter crashed between two commercial buildings in Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. The crash occurred near the site of a separate fatal collision involving a public bus and a car.
LAFD Captain Branden Silverman said authorities were still trying to establish how many people had been aboard the helicopter. At least one of those killed was a pedestrian in a car park near the crash site, he said.
An LAFD emergency alert said the aircraft was of an unknown make and type. The crash started a fire that exposed four vehicles, and firefighters worked to extinguish the flames while assessing casualties and conducting medical triage.
A later emergency alert said three people had been declared dead at the scene and that another person had been taken to a local hospital in an unknown condition. The fire also damaged four cars and two storage containers, according to the alert.
Firefighters continued searching the wreckage because the helicopter was “pretty well destroyed”, Captain Silverman said. The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration were expected to investigate the incident.
Captain Silverman said he had been at the scene of the earlier road crash when firefighters noticed a column of smoke from the helicopter site. That collision, involving an SUV lodged in the side of a public bus, killed two people and injured six others, according to the supplied report.