A news helicopter crashed in the Chatsworth neighborhood of Los Angeles on Tuesday evening while covering a deadly bus collision, resulting in three deaths, according to officials.
The aircraft went down in a parking lot at or near a self-storage facility in Chatsworth, located in the San Fernando Valley, the Los Angeles Fire Department and NBC Los Angeles reported. The station confirmed on air that the helicopter was its own and had earlier lost contact with those on board.
“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, News Chopper 4 went down just before 7 o’clock tonight in Chatsworth,” anchor Colleen Williams said. She added, “We’re going to take a couple of minutes to think about that, to process and to regroup,” her voice at times emotional.
Three people were pronounced dead at the scene, and another person was transported to a hospital in unknown condition, the fire department said in a statement. At least one of the deceased appeared to be a pedestrian on the ground when the crash occurred, Fire Capt. Branden Silverman said at the scene.
The helicopter crash happened after two people were killed and others injured in a collision between a Los Angeles Metro bus and a passenger vehicle on Nordhoff Street, according to the fire department.