Three people were killed when a TV helicopter crashed and exploded in flames near the site of a fatal SUV-Metro bus collision in Chatsworth on Tuesday evening, officials said.
The Los Angeles Police Department has confirmed the helicopter that crashed was from a television station.
NBC4 reports that it has been unable to make contact with its helicopter crew.
The three people included one person on the ground in the 9100 block of Mason Avenue, according to Jennifer Middleton, spokesperson with the Los Angeles Fire Department. A fourth person was hospitalized, she said.
Fifty-six firefighters responded to the helicopter crash. Four cars and two storage containers were damaged by the fire, LAFD said.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration will handle the investigation.
Earlier Tuesday, three people were killed and five others injured nearby when an SUV crashed into a Metro bus in Chatsworth.
The bus crash occurred just after 5 p.m. in the 20900 block of Nordhoff Street, near De Soto Avenue, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Video from the scene showed firefighters tending to multiple patients, and frantically working to free a woman who was trapped inside the bus. She was eventually freed and quickly loaded into an ambulance in unknown condition with what crews on scene described as “crushing” injuries.
A large number of ambulances and fire engines responded to that scene,as well.
It was unclear what caused either the SUV-Metro crash or the helicopter crash.
Staff writer Emily McGinn and City News Service contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Please check back for more.