News helicopter crashes in Los Angeles, killing at least three people

By Karina Tsui

A news helicopter crashed in a commercial area of a Los Angeles suburb on Tuesday night, killing at least three people, according to officials.

A KNBC helicopter crashed just before 7 p.m. in Chatsworth, a neighborhood about 25 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, near where emergency officials and news crews were responding to a deadly bus collision, the station said late Tuesday.

“We do know it’s a news helicopter and we do know we have lost contact with our people,” KNBC anchor Colleen Williams said on air. Earlier in the evening, Williams shared that the station lost contact with its helicopter team.

Three people were determined dead on the scene, the LA Fire Department said in a statement, and one person has been transported to a local hospital. Their condition is unknown.

The cause of the crash is unknown and authorities have not said how many people were in the helicopter.

One of the three deceased was a “pedestrian who was outside, in the parking lot,” LAFD Fire Captain Branden Silverman told reporters from the scene, adding that the Los Angeles Police Department was involved in pulling that person away from the fire.

Silverman said the helicopter was “pretty well destroyed,” and authorities would have to search through the rubble to identify victims and the helicopter’s identification.

“I’m absolutely devastated by the loss of life in Chatsworth tonight,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass wrote on X late Tuesday. “My heart is with the families and loved ones of those we lost in the tragic bus collision and helicopter crash.”

The crash caused a fire as it landed near several vehicles and two large cargo containers, LAFD said in a statement. Videos from the scene showed flames and thick plumes of smoke billowing from the site of the crash.

The fire has since been extinguished, LAFD said, adding that 56 firefighters responded to the incident. Four vehicles and two storage containers were damaged, it added.

The National Transportation Safety Board and FAA will be handling the investigation, LAFD said. CNN has reached out to the FAA and NTSB.

According to Federal Aviation Administration records, it was a Eurocopter AS350 B2 built in 2004 - a popular, single-engine utility helicopter.

This story has been updated with additional information.