Two people were killed and others were injured after a medical rescue helicopter crashed on Monday into an apartment building near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, authorities said.
The Broward country sheriff’s office said one of its fire-rescue helicopters crashed near the Pompano Beach airpark shortly before 9am. One person aboard died, and one person on the ground was killed as the helicopter crashed into a three-unit apartment complex, National Transportation Safety Board officials said.
Meanwhile, officials had reported earlier that two of the three people aboard the helicopter were taken to a hospital to receive emergency medical treatment. Two others on the ground at the time of the crash were also reportedly taken to the hospital.
The local news outlet WSVN interviewed a member of a family who lived in the building where the crash occurred and said the helicopter landed right in the living room.
The person interviewed by WSVN said the crash was only the latest crisis for the family, whose matriarch died in October, after a sibling had died the previous year.
“Our family has been through a lot,” the person reportedly said. “I’m just going to pray with my family and my siblings so we can pull through and make the best out of this.”
The sheriff’s office’s statement said captain and flight paramedic Terryson Jackson was the one crew member killed aboard the helicopter. Officials added that the helicopter had an engine failure about two minutes after it had been sent to a scene in the community of North Lauderdale when it crashed, according to WSVN.
A photo posted online of the crashed helicopter showed flames coming from its midsection as it is trailed by a long plume of smoke.
Dramatic overhead images captured by WSVY and posted on X – the social media platform formerly known as Twitter – showed a large hole in the roof of the single-story apartment building where the helicopter went down. Firefighters were spraying water from a hose at the building, a portion of which was burned out and destroyed.
LIVE: 7Skyforce is over the scene, located at 1201 NW 6th Ave, where a BSO helicopter went down, around 8:45 a.m. MORE INFO: https://t.co/luEO364Mha
— WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) August 28, 2023
*no audio from 7Skyforce* https://t.co/W8p6bAiEVS
The Associated Press contributed reporting
