A driver who narrowly prevented a helicopter crash whereas touring alongside a Sacramento freeway has shared chilling particulars of the incident that has left at the least three critically injured.
A medical plane got here plummeting down onto the busy Freeway 50, which runs East from the California metropolis till the Nevada state line close to Lake Tahoe, simply after 7pm native time.
As many as 15 bystanders rushed to the crash website to assist drag victims from the ruins, authorities mentioned.
Sacramento Fireplace informed KCRA there have been no sufferers on the REACH medical helicopter however a pilot, nurse and paramedic have been on board.
Captain Justin Sylvia with Sacramento Fireplace mentioned all three crew members have been taken to the hospital with crucial accidents.
Two employees have been discovered on the roadway, whereas one was nonetheless caught within the wreckage of the helicopter.
Davi Bychkoviak, a Sacramento resident who was on his means house from work when the tragedy struck, discovered himself simply toes away from the plane because it slammed into the freeway.
He informed the Each day Mail that within the moments main as much as the catastrophe, he noticed the crimson helicopter flying near the bottom, prompting him to start out filming from his automobile.
As many as 15 bystanders rushed to the crash website to assist drag victims from the ruins, authorities mentioned
Bychkoviak’s video reveals the doomed plane quickly dropping and colliding with the freeway in a matter of seconds
Different chilling photos and video confirmed the plane’s particles
‘Then simply actually, a few seconds after, the crash occurred, actually 5 toes subsequent to me,’ he recalled. ‘It was fairly scary.’
‘There was no explosion, it was simply loud and there was smoke all over the place,’ he went on.
Bychkoviak’s video reveals the doomed plane quickly dropping and colliding with the freeway in a matter of seconds.
The crash despatched smoke taking pictures into the air because the helicopter was smashed into items.
Bychkoviak mentioned he ‘did not perceive what occurred at first,’ however skilled terror as soon as he processed what he had witnessed. ‘That is the primary time I’ve seen one thing like that.’
A flight tracker has indicated that the Airbus H-130 helicopter had departed from the roof of UC Davis Medical Heart simply minutes earlier than the crash.
Sacramento Metropolis Councilmember Lisa Kaplan shared an image of the crowded freeway, urging folks to ‘keep off’ the highway, and introduced it’s closed in each instructions
Motorists have been left caught on the freeway following the incident
Authorities are nonetheless probing the incident and mentioned there are a number of injured victims.
The Each day Mail has reached out to the California Freeway Patrol (CHP) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for remark.
A spokesman for REACH, which is predicated at McClellan Airport, declined to debate the crash with The Sacramento Bee.
Shortly afterward, Sacramento Metropolis Council member Lisa Kaplan shared an image of the crowded freeway, urging folks to ‘keep off’ the highway. Eastbound lanes stay closed for the evening, however westbound visitors has resumed.
In one other X publish, she despatched her ideas to the victims and first responders: ‘I pray for all within the crash. Thank our officers & all whom pilot for his or her public service.’
Different chilling photos and video captured by folks caught of their automobiles depict the black-smoke crammed sky close to the place the helicopter landed.
One video, taken by somebody caught on the freeway, reveals the chaotic aftermath of the accident, with automobiles slowly inching ahead on the highway because the smoke reveals no indicators of letting up.
A number of accidents have been reported following a dramatic helicopter crash onto a Sacramento freeway on Monday night
The particles from the crimson helicopter is seen scattered throughout a number of lanes
An image taken on the crash website reveals investigators standing in entrance of the ruins.
The particles from the crimson helicopter – flipped the other way up – is seen scattered throughout a number of lanes.
‘Actually, I simply actually hope that everybody survived and everyone seems to be secure,’ Bychkoviak informed the Each day Mail.
