Helicopter crashes at Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden in Hong Kong, killing 49-year-old pilot
- Police source identifies dead man as lawyer Andrew Wong
- Images and video clips posted online show flames and smoke billowing out from wooded area
A man was killed in a helicopter crash near a popular Hong Kong attraction on Sunday.
The aircraft went down at 5.29pm near the Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, a conservation and education centre in the New Territories.
A police source named the dead pilot as 49-year-old Andrew Wong Fai-hung, a lawyer with Pansy Leung Tang & Chua Solicitors. The source said the married father of three had his pilot licence renewed on Sunday.
Witnesses described seeing the helicopter, believed to be a Robinson R44, break apart in mid-air moments before it crashed into a slope at the back of the farm’s general administration office.
Emergency services, including 15 fire engines and 10 ambulances, raced to the scene and discovered the burning wreckage of the helicopter spread over a 100-metre area. Authorities said the fire was extinguished at 5.44pm and there were no reports of other casualties at the farm, which had closed to the public at 4.30pm.
Jonathan Ho Wang-leung, from the Air Accident Investigation Authority, said the pilot had taken off in the privately owned helicopter from Shek Kong Airfield at 4.40pm, for what was supposed to be a 90-minute flight.