TRAGIC

Four Killed as Helicopter Crashes Into Radio Tower and Explodes

“We saw this bright light flying toward the church,” Marco Perez said. “That light turned into an orange red fireball.”

A privately owned helicopter crashed into a radio tower just outside Houston downtown Sunday night killing four on board, including a child, according to local officials. The Houston Fire Department said the R44 helicopter hit the tower at 7:54 pm local time, which would have been roughly an hour after sunset. A reporter from local news station KHOU noted that the Federal Aviation Administration published a notice last week notifying pilots that the lights on the tower weren’t working. “We saw this bright light flying toward the church,” Marco Perez, who was attending an outdoor concert at the nearby Our Lady of Guadalupe, told the Houston Chronicle. “That light turned into an orange red fireball.” The resulting fire burned 100 to 200 yards of grass near the site and footage of the aftermath shows a horrific inferno amid contorted metal debris, but first responders were able to secure the site, including electricity and gas provisions. A security camera at the home of one resident recorded the crash from a distance, while another person posted a video of the resulting fireball in the immediate aftermath of the crash. The FAA, National Transportation Safety Board, and Houston’s fire and police departments are investigating the crash.