A video from the Miami Beach Police Department shows the helicopter falling into the Atlantic Ocean.
miami:
Two people were hospitalized on Saturday after the helicopter they were flying crashed into the ocean off a beach in the US state of Florida.
Miami Beach Police said on Twitter that they received a call about the crash at 1:10 PM (1810 GMT).
“Police and @MiamiBeachFire along with several partner agencies responded to the scene,” the tweet said. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has also commented on the crash.
This afternoon at 1:10 PM, MBPD received a call of a helicopter crash in the ocean near 10 Street. police and @MiamiBeachFire responded to the scene along with several partner agencies. Two occupants were transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital in stable condition.
1/2 pic.twitter.com/heSIqnQtle
— Miami Beach Police (@MiamiBeachPD) February 19, 2022
“There were three passengers on board. Two were taken to hospital,” police said, adding that the two were in “stable condition”.
A video accompanying the tweet shows a helicopter falling into the Atlantic Ocean not far from people swimming or sunbathing on the crowded beach.
Mary Schiavo, the former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation, told DailyExpertNews that the video showed the helicopter appeared to be losing engine power.
“There were two important things going on here,” she said. “One, the pilot was trained… And two, was able to maintain some control of the plane because it seems that once you lose your engines, you have nowhere to go but hopefully a controlled trajectory down. “
She said that watching the video, it appeared that the pilot was able to stay away from beachgoers even as the helicopter fell.
The FAA said in a statement to DailyExpertNews that the helicopter crashed under “unknown circumstances”.
The aviation authority said it would investigate the accident with the National Transportation Safety Board.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
