News helicopter crashes in Los Angeles, killing 3 people

By Karina Tsui, CNN

(CNN) — A news helicopter crashed in a commercial area of a Los Angeles suburb Tuesday night, leaving at least three people dead and multiple others injured, according to officials.

The helicopter, working for stations NBC4 and Telemundo 52, crashed just before 7 p.m. in Chatsworth, a neighborhood about 25 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, while it was providing aerial news coverage, the stations said late Tuesday.

NBC4 anchor Colleen Williams confirmed live on air that the crash involved its helicopter team, telling viewers, “We are going to take a couple of minutes to think about that, to process and to regroup,” before the station switched temporarily to other programming. Earlier in the evening, Williams said the station had lost contact with its crew amid coverage of a deadly bus collision in the area.

“We are deeply saddened to share that a helicopter providing aerial news coverage for NBC4 and Telemundo 52 was involved in a fatal accident in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening,” the stations said in a joint statement. “We extend our heartfelt condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of those who lost their lives.”

The cause of the crash is unknown and an investigation is underway.

Three people were determined dead on the scene and at least two people were injured and transported to a hospital, officials said in a news conference late Tuesday, without revealing details about the victims’ identities.

NBC4 identified the two people in the helicopter as Eliana Moreno, an aerial photojournalist and reporter and pilot George Marciniw.

Moreno had joined Angel City Air, the helicopter’s operator, in September 2010, and has reported for several Southern California outlets since, NBC4 reported. CNN has reached out to Angel City Air.

Earlier, LAFD Fire Captain Branden Silverman said one of the three deceased was a “pedestrian who was outside, in the parking lot,” adding that the Los Angeles Police Department was involved in pulling that person away from the fire.

Silverman said the helicopter was “pretty well destroyed,” and authorities would have to search through the rubble to identify victims and the helicopter’s identification.

The National Transportation Safety Board will be leading the investigation into the crash, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said, and an NTSB investigator is expected to arrive at the scene Wednesday morning, the agency told CNN.

“This is a very, very, very tragic day in Los Angeles,” Bass said while at the scene, referencing the deadly collision and helicopter crash. “My heart certainly goes out to the family and friends of all of those that we lost.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom also expressed his condolences, writing in a Facebook post: “Our hearts are with the victims and families of tonight’s devastating Metro bus and helicopter crashes in Chatsworth, and with the entire NBC4 family.”

The crash caused a fire as it landed near several vehicles and two large cargo containers, LAFD said in a statement. Videos from the scene showed flames and thick plumes of smoke billowing from the site.

The fire has since been extinguished, LAFD said. Four vehicles and two storage containers were damaged, it added. LAFD’s Captain Rico Gross said more than 70 firefighters responded to the scene.

CNN reached out to the Federal Aviation Administration, which is also involved in the probe, according to the fire department.

According to FAA records, the aircraft was a Eurocopter AS350 B2 built in 2004 – a popular, single-engine utility helicopter.

“There are serious questions about what happened tonight,” Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Lindsey Horvath said at the Tuesday press conference.

“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,” she added.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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CNN’s Josh Campbell, Aaron Cooper, Amanda Jackson, Blake Fogg and Diego Mendoza contributed to this report.