During a “unauthorised” early morning flight, the pilot’s helicopter crashed into the roof of an Australian hotel, resulting in the pilot’s death.
Around 01:50 local time on Monday (16:50 BST Sunday), an aircraft struck the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in Cairns, northern Queensland, igniting a fire and requiring the evacuation of hundreds of guests.
Two hotel guests, an 80-year-old man and a 70-year-old woman, were taken to the hospital in stable condition, while the only person inside the helicopter, according to the authorities, died at the scene.
There have been rumors in the local media that the helicopter was stolen.
The helicopter’s owner, Nautilus Aviation, announced that it would cooperate closely with all Queensland authorities in their investigation into the “unauthorized use of one of our helicopters in the early hours of this morning.”
While staying at the Cairns hotel on the main esplanade, Amanda Kay told stories of seeing a helicopter flying “extra low” in the rain without any lights.
She said, “[It] has turned around and hit the building,” adding that the plane “blew up”.
Another onlooker claimed to have witnessed the helicopter pass the hotel twice just prior to the crash.
“That helicopter was flying by very quickly, boy. A woman was heard saying, “Unbelievable,” as the crash’s fiery aftermath was captured on camera.
“It was just going out of control, that thing was.”
According to Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS), two of the helicopter’s rotor blades broke off with the impact and landed in the hotel pool as well as on the promenade.
“There’s been reports it sounded like a bomb, and [that after] seeing smoke and fire from that, a lot of the occupants of the hotel were very unsure about the situation,” Caitlin Dennings, a spokeswoman for the
Alastair Salmon, a different guest at the hotel, told the ABC it was “a colossal ear-deafening bang”.
Approximately 400 people, including Mr. Salmon from London, were taken out of the hotel.
He related how he mistook the nearby helicopter rotor blade for a lamppost when he saw it on the ground.
“Then we looked up there and you could see this massive hole in the window of the building,” he stated to the ABC.
Police have declared an emergency and cordoned off the streets surrounding the hotel.
The circumstances surrounding the crash are still being looked into by Queensland Police and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is in charge of aviation safety.
Because of its close proximity to the Great Barrier Reef, the city of Cairns, which is located in northern Queensland, is a popular tourist destination.
