Residents in a small B.C. community watched in horror Tuesday afternoon as a helicopter dropped from the air, hit a pedestrian, and exploded into a fireball in the middle of their street.
Four people died in the accident, which happened Tuesday afternoon in Cranbrook, a small town about 840 kilometres east of Vancouver.
In addition to the pedestrian who was crushed by the chopper, the pilot and two passengers also died.
Witnesses say the helicopter was flying low to the ground for several minutes but there didn't appear to be any problems.
Richard Fairchild saw the crash, which happened right in front of his residence. He told 愛污传媒net that the chopper had barely cleared a large pine tree and "within a second-and-a-half it crashed right in front of us -- literally in front of our window."
"Unfortunately, (the helicopter hit) a pedestrian on the sidewalk," Fairchild said.
He said helicopter's fuel then burst into flames.
"It didn't crash at a high speed. The pilot had been trying to control it, but the motor was out at that point and he fell the last 15 feet."
Fairchild said the pedestrian was just walking on the sidewalk and had little time to respond. He recorded the fire in the moments after the accident and submitted the video to MyNews at CTV.ca. It showed a fireball that appeared to have consumed the wreckage.
Another witness said he noticed the pilot appeared to be in trouble before the crash.
"My friend and I, we could tell there was something wrong because he was kind of fluttering and sputtering and I kind of thought there was trouble -- but it happened so bloody quick," Elmer Bautz told The Canadian Press.
"He came down at about a 45-degree angle, and he came down pretty fast and it exploded into a fireball.... It was tremendously loud."
Police say ambulance and emergency crews arrived quickly, but there was little they could do to help.
Bill Yearwood of the Transportation Safety Board says the craft that went down is a Bell helicopter Model 206. He told CP that three TSB investigators have been dispatched to scene.
"Of course they will be trying to see first if there was any catastrophic failure in the aircraft that we might need to look and see if there's other similar aircraft at risk," said Yearwood.
"That's their first goal. The wreckage will be examined on site and then transported somewhere where we can have a closer look at it."
The chopper was hired by BC Hydro and was owned by Big Horn Helicopters, a Cranbrook company. BC Hydro CEO Bob Elton said that his employees were in the chopper on routine line patrol when it crashed.
"This loss will be felt by all of us at BC Hydro and in the communities where they lived and served," Elton said.
"I am joined by Hydro employees across the province in expressing my deepest and most sincere condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of the victims of this accident."
With files from The Canadian Press
