Three Dead As NBC4 News Helicopter Crashes In Chatsworth

Three people were killed when an NBC4 news helicopter crashed and burst into flames Tuesday night in Chatsworth, not far from a serious accident involving a Metro bus that also left three people dead.

The area was already swarming with police, fire officials and the news media because of the bus crash when there was a fireball and people heard a loud explosion a few blocks away.

The chopper went down between two commercial buildings in the 9100 block of Mason Avenue around 7 p.m.

The Los Angeles Fire Department, LAFD, said at least one person on the ground was killed. Two others were taken to a hospital.

KNBC said reporter Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw were killed.

NBC4 news anchor Colleen Williams confirmed around 9 p.m. that the station’s Chopper 4 had crashed. She had earlier told viewers that the station had lost contact with its team in the air.

“We are going to take a couple of minutes to think about that, to process, and to regroup,” Williams said before the station ended its live coverage.

Moreno and Marciniw’s last moments tragically were captured on a live broadcast. Video from their helicopter shows an aerial view of the bus crash, with the sound of the helicopter in the background.

Then, the sound of the engine’s motor winds down, the angle of the camera begins to descend, and Moreno is heard saying “You can’t pull up?” before the image cuts out.

Zoey Tur, a veteran news helicopter pilot who operated the type of helicopter the NBC4 crew was flying, said the aircraft has “an emergency horn that sounds when either there’s a low RPM issue or the helicopter loses hydraulics.”

Watch video: