SYDNEY – On August 12, a helicopter crashed into the roof of a Hilton hotel in northeastern Australia, causing a fire to break out on the building’s roof and requiring a mass evacuation, according to police.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), citing police sources, reported that the pilot died at the scene of the accident. He was the only person in the helicopter.
It said two other patients – a man in his 80s and a woman in her 70s – were admitted to Cairns Hospital in a stable condition.
An emergency services official said shattered pieces of the helicopter propeller landed in the hotel’s pool.
Queensland Police said “no one on the ground was injured.”
ABC reported that up to 400 people were evacuated from the DoubleTree by Hilton in the tropical northern city of Cairns after the helicopter crashed at about 1:50 a.m. local time.
Pictures showed a bright cloud of fire on the roof of the hotel.
“The building was evacuated as a precaution and there were no injuries to people on the ground. Police are on site investigating the circumstances of the incident,” Queensland State Police said in a statement.
“They just flew into the building,” a woman’s voice says in a video shared on social media capturing the aftermath as sirens wail in the background.
“It’s crazy, man. Horrible. People lived in it. It just collapsed.”
Caitlin Denning, head of Queensland Rescue Station, said the plane’s propellers had “come loose”.
“One landed on the Cairns Esplanade and a second propeller was in the hotel pool on the ground floor and was on fire,” she told local media.
Cairns is a popular tourist centre and offers access to Australia’s famous Great Barrier Reef.
A team of government investigators from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau has been dispatched to the crash site. AFP, REUTERS
