Shocking security footage captures the moment a tour helicopter crashed into a Houston radio tower, killing all four people on board, including a child.
The helicopter can be seen flashing as it travels across the Texas sky late Sunday — before suddenly lighting up in a bright flash of flames as it strikes the radio tower around 1,000 feet high.
After a loud bang, the private Robinson R44 II helicopter — covered in flames — plunges to the ground, bringing the tower with it.
Other footage showed flames covering the ground as the blaze covered at least 600 feet, with investigators scouring over 4 acres of land Monday looking for evidence and debris.
All four people, including one child, who were on the “air tour flight” died, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. As of early Monday afternoon, none had been identified and it was not immediately clear why the chopper crashed into the tower.
Ignacio Sandoval told the Houston Chronicle that if the tower had fallen in another direction, his home in Ennis would have been squashed.
“It [sounded] like a bomb,” he said of the crash.
People attending a fall festival at the nearby Our Lady of Guadalupe church started screaming and stopped their live band from playing after hearing the horrific crash.
“We saw this bright light flying toward the church,” Marco Perez told the outlet. “That light turned into an orange-red fireball.”
Detectives on Monday began scouring over 4 acres of land surrounding the crash site for evidence connected to the incident, Houston police said.
There were some reports of damage to vehicles, including a shattered windshield in the neighborhood not far from the crash site. Several residents have also reported debris had landed in their yards.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a Monday statement that the helicopter was operating as an “air tour flight” when it crashed.
The radio tower was owned by Spanish-language news network Univision until it was sold in September to KAMA-FM, the outlet reported.
Officials said no people on the ground were injured in the incident.
The crash remains under investigation.
With Post wires.