Helicopter crashes into Texas radio tower, killing multiple people

A helicopter crashed into a radio tower in Houston on Sunday night, erupting into a fireball and crashing to the ground - leaving several people dead, including a child, according to authorities.

The incident happened at 7:54 p.m. in Houston’s Greater East End, close enough to a fire station that firefighters there heard the crash, Houston Mayor John Whitmire (D) said late Sunday during a news conference. He said there were multiple fatalities.

“We have a terrible accident scene,” Whitmire said.

The exact death toll was not immediately clear. Four people were aboard the helicopter, a privately owned Robinson R44, Police Chief J. Noe Diaz said at the news conference. The victims have not been identified, and their families have not been notified, Diaz said.

“This is a tragic event tonight; it’s a tragic loss of life,” Diaz said.

Video taken at the scene after the crash showed large flames, which covered “a good two to three blocks,” Houston Fire Chief Thomas Muñoz said at the news conference.

Before hitting the tower, the helicopter - which was used for “private touring,” according to Houston City Council member Mario Castillo - had taken off from Ellington Airport, some 17 miles southeast, officials said. Its planned destination remains unknown.

The Houston Fire Department said the crash - which triggered a loud boom and ignited a blaze in a grass field - took place at Engelke Street and North Ennis Street. The radio tower is about 1,000 feet tall, according to Federal Communications Commissions records.

When the crash happened, members of Houston Fire Department’s Station 17 “heard a loud explosion,” Whitmire said. “Immediately, 911 was lighting up.”

The explosion, he added, was like a “fireball out of the air.”

Whitmire said the damage and loss of life could have been worse because the crash happened near a butane tank and in a residential area. “We were very fortunate that it didn’t topple in one direction or another and the fireball pretty much was isolated,” he said.

According to preliminary information, no one was on the ground near the crash site, Diaz said. Muñoz said that no structures other than the tower were damaged, and that the fire was extinguished and did not pose a risk to the community.

Some residents experienced localized power outages as a result of the crash, Whitmire said.

The circumstances leading to the crash are unclear. On Oct. 16 - four days before the incident - the Federal Aviation Administration published a notice warning that some of the tower’s lights were “unserviceable.” Footage from a home security camera shows the tower with a light blinking at the top - though there doesn’t appear to be any other visible light.

Several state and federal agencies - including the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board - have launched an investigation into the crash.

While the probe is ongoing, the crash site will remain off limits to the public. It could take several days for officials to comb through the rubble and remove the debris, Whitmire said.

But on Sunday night, police and fire officials made a grim request to community members who live nearby: to immediately give them a call if they were to encounter shrapnel or human remains in the vicinity.

“When daylight comes, if you do see components of the aircraft and whatnot, make sure that you don’t touch it,” Diaz said. “Call 911. Let us know where it is if you see it in the community because it’ll be a large investigation because of the expanse of the accident.”