A Los Angeles news helicopter went down in a fiery crash Tuesday night, killing three people and sending a massive cloud of black smoke over Chatsworth.
The helicopter was NewsChopper4, operated by Angel City Air and used by NBC4 and Telemundo 52 for aerial news coverage. It crashed shortly before 7 p.m. near the 9100 block of North Mason Avenue, according to officials.
The helicopter had been covering a separate deadly crash involving an SUV and a Metro bus nearby when it went down.
Two people aboard the helicopter were killed. They were later identified as aerial reporter and photojournalist Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw, both Angel City Air employees. A third person on the ground also died. Two other people were hospitalized following the crash.
NBC4 Loses Contact With Its Own Chopper
The tragedy unfolded as NBC4 was actively covering the earlier bus crash.
During the station’s live coverage, anchor Colleen Williams told viewers that the newsroom had lost contact with its helicopter crew.
At approximately 9 p.m., NBC4 confirmed that the aircraft involved was its own NewsChopper4.
“We received the confirmation that in fact News Chopper 4 went down just before 7 p.m. tonight in Chatsworth,” Williams said during the emotional broadcast.
Williams and other NBC4 anchors appeared visibly shaken as they processed the news on air.
The station then temporarily stepped away from its live coverage to allow its journalists time to process the loss before returning to the broadcast.
The helicopter crashed between commercial buildings and sparked a fire that damaged several vehicles and storage containers. More than 70 firefighters responded to the scene, according to reporting on the incident.
The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the crash. Officials have not yet determined what caused the helicopter to go down.
The crash came only hours after the nearby Metro bus collision that had already claimed lives and injured others.
For NBC4, however, the story they had been covering suddenly became a devastating loss within their own newsroom.
