A helicopter crashed into the roof of a hotel in the popular northern Australian tourist town of Cairns, killing the pilot and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of guests, authorities said on Monday. Emergency crews were called at about 2 am on Monday after a twin-engine helicopter collided with the hotel roof, causing a fire on top of the building and triggering evacuations, Queensland state police said in a statement.
Police said forensic investigations were underway to formally identify the pilot. He was declared dead at the scene. "There were no injuries sustained by people on the ground," the police statement said.
The crash occurred at Hilton's Double Tree Hotel in the city of Cairns, a major gateway to Australia's Great Barrier Reef, Australian media reported. Two of the helicopter's rotor blades came off and one landed in the hotel pool, media reports said. The forensic crash unit will work with Australia's transport safety regulator to prepare an accident report, police said.
'Unauthorised' helicopter
Queensland Police Service Acting Chief Superintendent Shane Holmes told reporters. No one else on the ground was hurt. Holmes said it was not known if the man flying the helicopter held a pilot's license or if he worked for the company that owned the craft, Nautilus Aviation. “There is no further threat to the community, and we believe this is an isolated incident,” Holmes said. Nautilus Aviation said in an unattributed written statement that the flight was “unauthorised” but would not supply any further details.
Cairns Airport CEO Richard Barker said initial findings of a review Monday showed “no compromise of the airport security program or processes."
"Yeah it was about 2 am in the morning, we just heard a bit of a swirling noise, like a big whirlwind and that was (when I was) lying in the bed – I actually thought I was dreaming. And then about two seconds later there was like a very loud bang, a couple of bangs actually," said Anthony Viviano, a tourist staying at the hotel.
"The room started rattling and the doors and everything. And then I quickly ran to the kids, they were up screaming and yelling ‘what was that?’ I thought we were under attack or something and yeah we just walked out of the apartment and we saw that there were some flames up above the hotel across the road, about 10 metres away. And yeah, we were just asked to evacuate the building," he added.
(With inputs from agency)
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