A helicopter affiliated with NBC Los Angeles crashed while covering an earlier bus collision on Tuesday evening, killing two people on board and another on the ground. As per the Los Angeles Fire Department, the helicopter went down in a parking lot close to a self-storage facility in the area of Chatsworth, in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley.
At the time, local authorities had been conducting investigations into a fatal collision involving a public commuter bus that had occurred earlier in the day.
In the wake of the helicopter crash, said to have killed the photo journalist and pilot on board, as well as one person on the ground, smoke could be seen rising near the transit corridor where police tape, road closures, and forensic units were still processing the debris field from the earlier bus incident.
“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, live on air.
“We’re going to take a couple of minutes to think about that, to process and to regroup,” Williams added.
The helicopter was reportedly operated by Angel City Air and affiliated with the news station.
Meanwhile, two people were killed and others were injured in the earlier crash between a Los Angeles Metro bus and a passenger vehicle on Nordhoff Street.
The Fire Department said that the bus crash occurred at 5:03 p.m. on Tuesday evening, and that firefighters had worked to free the trapped people and assess the bus passengers.
The downed helicopter was one of multiple aircraft covering the crash, NBC Los Angeles reported.
Speaking on Tuesday night, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass described it as “a heartbreaking night for our city,” while she praised first responders for their quick actions.
“We lost five Angelenos today,” she said, “and my heart certainly goes out to the family and friends of all of those that we lost.”
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