‘No survivors’ after helicopter crashes into warehouse
By Scott Sutton, Joel Lopez
Click here for updates on this story
BOYNTON BEACH, Florida (WPTV) — Fatalities were reported after a small helicopter crashed into the roof of a vacant warehouse in Boynton Beach on Monday, according to local authorities.
According to a post on the Boynton Beach Police Department’s Facebook page, the crash occurred near the 3800 block of South Congress Avenue near the Monterey Bay community just before 12:30 p.m.
During a news conference held just after 2 p.m., Boynton Beach Battalion Chief Matt Oxendine said everyone on the helicopter died.
“There were no survivors,” Oxendine said.
According to a statement from the FAA, two people were on board the aircraft, a Robinson R44, when it went down.
“I don’t know if they were trying to land or not. That’s just where they ended up, on the roof, and went through. It’s a lightweight truss roof, so it actually crashed through it,” Oxendine said.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate what caused the helicopter to crash.
The NTSB will lead the investigation and will provide further updates.
Oxendine said they were first alerted to the crash by area residents who called 911.
“(There was) no fire, no smoke. Usually, you would see it from far away. We actually got dispatched to the next neighborhood over … We had to come back and search to find it,” Oxendine said.
WPTV reporter Joel Lopez spoke to Michel Elet, who was working nearby at the time of the crash.
“Did you hear a crash or anything or an explosion?” asked Lopez.
“I heard the noise but didn’t know what happened,” Elet said. “I was in my car. I heard that happened in the building, but I didn’t know exactly what happened. When the police came in, they asked us to get out. That’s when I knew the helicopter crashed into the building. That’s very crazy.”
The identities of the victims have not been released.
Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.