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Seattle news copter crash claims 2
(Updated) We’re learning more about a deadly helicopter crash near Seattle’s Space Needle.
It happened around 11 o’clock this morning Hamilton time, and the United States National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.
Two people died in the crash, both of them inside the helicopter. A 37 year old man suffered intense burns, and his condition has been upgraded to serious.
It was a temporary news chopper, used by Seattle TV station KOMO. It crashed near the station’s helipad shortly after takeoff.
The Seattle fire department says that the helicopter and three cars were engulfed in flames when they arrived. First responders say they were met with dark black billowing smoke and that about 50 fire vehicles were called to the scene to help.
It’s still unclear what exactly caused it to crash, but witness say that it looked like it was trying to take off when something went wrong.
“There was a fireball as soon as he hit the ground and people exiting their vehicles very fast and I went up there to see if there was anybody else still around and I could not see anybody still in their vehicles.”
“I just tried to keep everybody away from the jet fuel at that point, there was fuel running down the street, and that can catch on fire pretty fast. It was kind of chaotic there for a few minutes.”
Staff at KOMO have tweeted that one of the people killed in the crash was Bill Strothman, a photographer for the station. An anchor station said in a tweet, “So many fond memories of Bill Strothman. So many adventures. Our hearts break more than words can express.”
The other victim has been identified by KOMO News as pilot Gary Pfitzner. The station tweeted, “he always had a smile on his face”.
In a staff meeting, news director Holly Gaunt said “this is a blow to us internally, though they were not our employees, we consider them family.”
The station’s regular helicopter was out of service, getting new equipment installed.
