Multiple Deaths After Helicopter Crashes Into Houston Radio Tower

The authorities said a child was among several who died onboard. It was not immediately clear if any of the three other people in the helicopter survived.

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.

John Whitmire, the mayor of Houston, called it a “tragic scene” but said “we are fortunate it wasn’t worse.” Neither a gas tank near the crash scene nor homes in the area were affected.

“It is surrounded by residents and that’s where we were very fortunate that it didn’t topple in one direction or another,” he said of the tower. “The fireball was pretty much isolated.”

Mr. Whitmire said the investigation would continue for several days.

There were some power outages for residents near the scene, Mr. Whitmire said. But the number of people impacted and length of the outage was not immediately clear.

The crash shook Eric Chaney’s home for a few seconds and felt like an earthquake. An explosion followed and the lights in his home flickered on and off briefly.

“It could have certainly fell into my house,” said Mr. Chaney, 30, who lives near the tower. He said he was happy that the tower “fell directly straight down and didn’t collide or impact with any of the houses surrounding the perimeter.”

Sam Elsaadi said he was having dinner on the patio of a restaurant in the Greater East End neighborhood when he saw the tower collapse.

“I heard something like fireworks and I looked up and I saw the tower flame out and completely crumble,” Mr. Elsaadi, 42, said in telephone interview on Sunday night.

Mr. Elsaadi left the restaurant and drove a few blocks to where the accident occurred. He arrive at the fenced off area at the base of the structure. Shards of the tower were all over the ground and the grass was on fire, he said.

Local fire and police responders arrived on the scene shortly afterward, he said.

Liam Coghlan, 41, who lives in the neighborhood, said he heard an explosion and then saw the tower crumbling and falling.

“Whatever had crashed into it was falling down in a fireball,” he said. “It was surreal.”

Jin Yu Young contributed reporting.