Helicopter crashes nose-first into Beijing car park; no casualties
Pilot steered aircraft away from crowded areas before impact, state media report says
Four people on board a civilian helicopter suffered only minor injuries after the aircraft crashed in a car park in the Chinese capital of Beijing on Monday morning.
Witnesses said the helicopter spun around a number of times before plummeting nose-first to the ground at about 11am, the report said.
“The helicopter lost control in mid-air,” the report quoted a witness as saying. “The plane was really loud when it lost control a few hundred metres away ... The pilot steered the helicopter and ... it landed in an empty car park.”
There were three men and one woman in the helicopter. The woman, who appeared to be a pilot, and a male passenger crawled out of the aircraft, a witness said.
No one on the ground was injured, Beijing police said.
Bell Helicopter aims to triple China fleet despite simmering trade tension with the US
Bell Helicopter told Reuters the helicopter was a Bell 429 aircraft.
Firefighters, police officers and emergency medical workers attended the scene.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China and Bell Helicopter are investigating the cause of the crash.
