Last night, a helicopter in Houston, Texas, crashed into a radio tower and plunged to the ground in an inferno. It's unknown why the helicopter crashed.
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CCTV footage from a local's CCTV footage caught the helicopter hitting the tower at around 7:51pm. Other footage shows it falling to the ground embroiled in flames before exploding in a fireball. Upon contact with the chopper, the radio tower also came tumbling down.
Four are feared dead after the explosion. Out of the four passengers aboard the Robinson R44 was a child. No other casualties or injuries were sustained. The disturbing footage leaves little question on the matter of survivability.
It's not completely clear whether the helicopter hit the radio tower itself, or hit a cable.
Radio Tower And Chopper Destroyed In Crash
The shocking footage shows the helicopter and radio tower collapsing. The fireball was so large that it is believed the passengers died. The identities of the victims have not been released yet, neither has the age of the child involved.
When the crash occurred, locals experienced power outages. Houston Mayor John Whitmire said, "we are fortunate that it wasn't worse, just in terms that there was a butane tank, a gas tank, near the crash scene. It is surrounded by residents and that's where we were very fortunate that it didn't topple in one direction or another. The fireball was pretty much isolated," according to the New York Times.
Although the local residents are very lucky that no further devastation was caused, witnessing the incident and loss of life is awful enough. Manuel Arciniega, a witness, said "I just saw the cell tower crumbling down."
The FAA, NTSB, and DPS are going to investigate the crash over the next several days. Hopefully, it won't be long before we hear word of why the chopper hit the radio tower. At the scene of the crash, Houston Fire Department began investigating the crash immediately with drones.
The crash is a devastating event and I hope the families involved will have the comfort of answers before long.
