News helicopter crashes in LA near site of deadly bus accident, three reported dead

A news helicopter flying near the site of a deadly bus accident in Los Angeles crashed itself in a nearby parking lot Tuesday evening, killing at least three people, officials said.

Capt. Branden Silverman, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Department, told a news conference that authorities were still sorting out the circumstances of the crash but that at least one of the dead was outside in the parking lot.

Authorities were trying to determine how many of the other victims were actually on the chopper, according to The Associated Press.

One survivor was taken to a hospital, officials said.

More than 50 firefighters responded to the helicopter crash, which ignited a fire that damaged four vehicles and two storage containers in the Chatworth neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Silverman said the helicopter was believed to be used for news gathering and was “pretty well destroyed” but he did not immediately identify the company it was working for.

NBC Los Angeles reported the chopper was working for its station.

“We knew it was a news chopper, we knew we’d lost contact with our people out there, and we’ve just received the confirmation that, in fact, News Chopper 4 went down just before 7 o’clock tonight in Chatsworth,” anchor Colleen Williams reported during an interview air newscast.

The chopper crashed near the site of an  accident between a Los Angeles Metro bus and a passenger vehicle that killed two people and injured others, NBC reported.