Four killed after helicopter crashes into radio tower and sparks fireball
Four people including a child have died in a helicopter crash in Houston, Texas.
The Robinson R44 four-seat light helicopter was flying over the city on Sunday evening when it hit the structure.
It immediately burst into a flames and dropped to the ground, while most of the tower collapsed with it.
Upon hitting the field where it landed, the helicopter exploded in a fireball, setting fire to the grass.
Nearby residents described hearing ‘something like fireworks’ and peering out of their windows to see the tower ‘flame out and completely crumble’.
The subsequent fire burned through an area the size of two to three city blocks before it was put out later that evening, local fire officials said.
Nearby homes experienced power outages although nobody else was hurt.
Houston’s mayor, John Whitmire, ‘tragic scene’ but said ‘we are fortunate it wasn’t worse’.
The tower was ‘surrounded by residents and that’s where we were very fortunate that it didn’t topple in one direction or another’, he added.
An investigation has been launched into the circumstances of the crash.
Footage of the final moments before the crash appear to show the helicopter flying in a straight path at a normal speed.
However it appeared to be at an unusually low altitude for an aircraft of its size that wasn’t in the process of landing or taking off.
Officials said the aircraft had taken off from Ellington Field, an airport more than a dozen miles away from the crash site.
The identities of the victims have not yet been released.
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