A tragic helicopter crash in the Chatsworth neighborhood of suburban Los Angeles has claimed three lives and left one person hospitalized with an unknown condition, Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) officials confirmed Wednesday. The incident unfolded shortly before 19:00 local time Tuesday, between two commercial structures near the intersection of Lurline Avenue and Nordhoff Street, as multiple news helicopters were already in the area covering an earlier deadly road collision.
Scene footage captured thick plumes of smoke and large flames rising from the crash site, where multiple vehicles and two shipping containers caught fire after the aircraft went down. LAFD crews quickly responded to the emergency and fully extinguished the blaze, preventing the fire from spreading to adjacent commercial buildings. According to LAFD Captain Branden Silverman, one victim was found outside the downed helicopter and was pronounced dead at the scene by first responders. Three fatalities have been confirmed in total, while the injured survivor was transported to a local medical facility for treatment, with no update on their condition as of Wednesday morning.
Early local media reports have indicated the crashed helicopter was a news-gathering aircraft deployed to cover a separate fatal collision that occurred earlier the same day in Chatsworth. In that earlier incident, an SUV collided with a city bus, killing two people and injuring six others, according to CBS, the BBC’s US partner. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) noted in a post on X Tuesday night that investigators have not yet finalized the number of people on board the helicopter or confirmed its owner, as first responders continued to clear and secure the crash site overnight.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement of mourning on X Tuesday evening, saying, “I am absolutely devastated by the loss of life in Chatsworth tonight. My heart is with the families and loved ones of those we lost in the tragic bus collision and helicopter crash.” The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has been assigned to lead the official investigation into the cause of the helicopter crash, with a preliminary report expected to be released in the coming weeks as investigators piece together details of the sequence of events that led to the tragedy.