NBC helicopter crashes in Los Angeles, three dead

A helicopter belonging to NBC's local news crew crashed in the Chatsworth neighborhood of Los Angeles on Tuesday evening, killing three people, NBC said during a live television broadcast, Reuters news agency reported.

NBC Los Angeles executives identified the aircraft as their NewsChopper 4 helicopter.

"We're trying to piece together the information we have all the time. We knew it was a news helicopter. We knew we lost contact with our people on the ground, and we just got confirmation that NewsChopper 4 did indeed crash just before 19 p.m. tonight in Chatsworth," NBC anchor Colleen Williams said.

Five people were examined at the scene of the accident, three of whom were pronounced dead, while two others were transported to the hospital, the Los Angeles Fire Department said at a press conference held shortly after 9:30 p.m. local time.

At least one person who died in the helicopter crash was outside in a parking lot next to a business, the fire department said. It was not immediately clear whether the other two people who died were on the ground or in the aircraft.

NBC executives did not say how many people were on the network's helicopter.

The helicopter crash followed a traffic accident in the area earlier Tuesday involving a Los Angeles transit bus and a passenger vehicle. At least two people were killed in that crash.

According to media reports, several television helicopters were in the area covering the bus crash when the NBC helicopter crashed.

According to those reports, the helicopter crashed and caught fire near a storage facility in the San Fernando Valley while news crews were covering the bus accident.

At least four cars and two storage containers caught fire after the helicopter crashed, the fire department said. The fire was quickly extinguished, and more than 70 firefighters responded to the scene, the department said.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will investigate the cause of the accident, the fire department said.

NBC said the helicopter was operated by Angel City Air, a company affiliated with the television station. Angel City Air did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said she was "shocked" by the loss of life in a helicopter crash and bus collision in Chatsworth.

California Governor Gavin Newsom also expressed his condolences, saying, "Our thoughts are with the victims and families affected by tonight's devastating Metro bus and helicopter crashes in Chatsworth, as well as the entire NBC4 family."

NBC, which is owned by Comcast, and the Los Angeles Fire Department did not immediately respond to emailed requests for additional information.