Four dead, including child in helicopter accident

A number of individuals, together with a toddler, have been killed in a helicopter crash in Houston, Texas on Sunday, native authorities mentioned.

The helicopter, which was reportedly carrying 4 individuals, crashed right into a radio tower within the metropolis’s east on Sunday night, in accordance with the Houston fireplace division.

Native media retailers reported giant numbers of emergency personnel responding to the scene.

Hearth officers mentioned the crash’s victims have been travelling within the helicopter. Their identities haven’t but been launched.

Houston authorities consider the plane was a privately owned R44 helicopter which took off from Ellington Discipline, about 15 miles (24km) away from the location of the crash.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had earlier issued a notification saying the tower’s lights weren’t working, in accordance with native broadcaster KHOU-TV, an affiliate of the BBC’s US associate, CBS Information.

Photos shared by the fireplace division on social media present emergency employees investigating the wreckage on the scene.

In a press convention on the scene of the crash, Police Chief J. Noe Diaz mentioned it didn’t seem that anybody on the bottom had been harm.

The crash brought on a fireplace to unfold over a “large space of land” overlaying an estimated two to 3 blocks, in accordance with Hearth Division Chief Thomas Munoz.

Talking on the similar late night time convention, he mentioned: “Fortunately there have been no residents, nevertheless it was close to residents.”

Houston Mayor John Whitmire added it was “lucky” the crash didn’t trigger a much bigger explosion.

Some properties close to the crash web site misplaced energy, he mentioned.

Officers mentioned that the radio tower was the one construction on the bottom that was broken by the influence.

The FAA and the Nationwide Transportation Security Board will examine the incident.