A helicopter crashes into a radio tower in Houston, Texas, U.S., October 20, 2024 in this screengrab from a handout video.
Credit: Reuters Photo
A helicopter crashed into a radio tower in Houston on Sunday night, killing a child and others onboard, officials said.
The Houston Fire Department said the accident happened in the city's Greater East End neighborhood at 7:54 p.m. Videos circulating on social media appeared to show the aftermath.
Four people were aboard the helicopter when "it either struck a cable" coming from the tower or "actually struck the tower," J. Noe Diaz, the chief of police of the city of Houston, said at a news conference. There were no casualties on the ground, he said.
It was not immediately clear if all four people aboard the helicopter, a private aircraft, had died. Officials said they did not know the age of the child.
After the radio tower collapsed, a fire the size of two to three blocks ignited in a grass field, fire officials said. The radio tower was the only structure on the ground that was impacted by the crash, officials said.
The families of the deceased had not been notified, Diaz said.
Sam Elsaadi said he was having dinner on the patio of a restaurant in the Greater East End neighborhood when he saw the tower collapse.
"I heard something like fireworks and I looked up and I saw the tower flame out and completely crumble," Elsaadi, 42, said in telephone interview Sunday night.
Elsaadi left the restaurant and drove a few blocks to where the accident occurred. He arrived at the fenced off area at the base of the structure. Shards of the tower were all over the ground and the grass was on fire, he said.
Local fire and police responders arrived on the scene shortly afterward, he said.
Mario Castillo, a Houston council member, said in a message on social platform X that he was "monitoring the helicopter crash." He said it was a "private touring helicopter," not one that belonged to the Houston Police Department.