Multiple Deaths After Helicopter Crashes Into Houston Radio Tower

A helicopter crashed into a radio tower in Houston on Sunday night, falling to the ground in a fireball and killing people onboard including a child, 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 struck the tower or a cable connected to it, J. Noe Diaz, Houston’s chief of police, said at a news conference. There were no casualties on the ground, but there were “multiple fatalities” reported on board and a child was among the victims, he added.

It was not immediately clear how many of the 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 city blocks ignited in a grass field, fire officials said. Emergency responders were at the scene within minutes, Fire Department Chief Thomas Munoz said at the news conference. 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, Chief Diaz said.

The flight plan of the helicopter, an R44, was not known, he added.