A helicopter covering a fatal bus collision in Los Angeles crashed near commercial buildings in Chatsworth on Tuesday evening, killing three people and setting vehicles and storage containers ablaze. The disaster occurred roughly two hours after an SUV struck a city bus nearby, turning one emergency response into two.¹

Officials said the aircraft came down shortly before 7 p.m. near Lurline Avenue and Nordhoff Street. More than 50 firefighters responded, extinguishing a fire that damaged at least four vehicles and two storage containers. One person was taken to hospital, though their condition was not immediately known.¹

Early accounts broadly agreed on the death toll but differed on the victims’ identities. Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson Branden Silverman said one person who died appeared to have been outside the helicopter: “That person was declared deceased on scene.”² At that stage, authorities said they were still determining how many people had been aboard the heavily damaged aircraft.²

Later reports identified the aircraft as NBC4’s NewsChopper4, operated by Angel City Air, and named aerial photojournalist Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw as the two people aboard. NBC4 anchor Colleen Williams said on air that the station had lost contact with its crew before receiving confirmation that the helicopter had gone down.³

The helicopter had been covering the earlier collision between an SUV and a Metro bus, which left at least two people dead and six injured. While initial coverage placed the helicopter crash about 1.5 miles from the bus wreck, both incidents drew major emergency responses in the San Fernando Valley.¹

The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation, with the Federal Aviation Administration also expected to assist. The cause of the helicopter’s sudden descent has not been determined.¹