Two people were killed in Seattle, Washington early Tuesday after a helicopter operated by a local news network crashed near the city’s iconic Space Needle.

The helicopter was apparently not far from the roof of KOMO News when it crashed to the street at around 7:40 a.m. local time, damaging several vehicles and causing three to catch fire.

At a news conference an hour later, a representative for the Seattle Fire Department confirmed that both people onboard the helicopter had been pronounced dead, but that their bodies remained in the wreckage.

A 37-year-old male who managed to escape from one of the automobiles was transported to a nearby hospital in critical condition, the SFD official said, but was suffering from burns on around 50 percent of their body and life-threatening injuries.

The helicopter was used in a joint partnership between KOMO News and King 5, a local NBC affiliate, according to that network’s Twitter account.

FULL STORY: http://rt.com/usa/helicopter-crashes-seattle-needle-622/