SYDNEY: A helicopter crashed into the roof of a Hilton hotel in northeastern Australia on Monday, killing the pilot and causing an explosion on the building's roof.
Hundreds of guests were evacuated from the DoubleTree by Hilton in the tropical resort of Cairns after the twin-engine helicopter crashed at around 1:50 a.m. local time.
Shattered pieces of the helicopter's propeller fell into the hotel's swimming pool, an emergency services official said.
Witness Amanda Kay said her service dog woke her up before the crash, which she watched from her nearby balcony.
“There was a light helicopter flying very low, with no position lights on,” he said. AFP.
“It was flying very erratically.”
“There was a huge explosion because it crashed into the building. It was a huge bang.”
Police said the pilot, who was the helicopter's only passenger, died at the scene.
Two people who were in a room near the crash site were hospitalized for smoke inhalation.
'Madness, man'
Images showed a bright column of fire burning on the roof of the hotel.
“They just flew into that building,” a female voice says in a video shared on social media that captured the moment after the incident.
“That's crazy, man,” he adds as sirens wail in the background.
“Chills. There were people living there. It collapsed.”
Queensland Ambulance Supervisor Caitlin Denning said the plane's propellers had become “dislodged”.
“One landed on the Cairns Esplanade and there was a second propeller located in the hotel pool on the lower floor and it was on fire,” he told local media.
“There were reports that it sounded like a bomb, and seeing the fire and smoke, many of the hotel occupants were unsure of the situation.”
The roof fire was extinguished later that morning.
Cairns is a popular tourist resort that offers a gateway to Australia's famous Great Barrier Reef.
Poor visibility
Angus Mitchell, commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, said flying conditions were difficult at the time of the crash, with poor visibility and possibly rain.
“Our job now is to analyse the facts we can gather in the coming days and establish the sequence of events,” he told reporters.
“We want to understand… what the helicopter was doing at the time and the nature of the flight.”
A team of government experts from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau was dispatched to the scene of the accident.
The security office asked witnesses to come forward if they had “photographs or videos of the aircraft at any stage of flight” or if they “heard the helicopter before impact.”
