Yeah, confirmation uh from Hampshire and
White Conabulary that three people, as
you say, have tragically lost their
lives after that helicopter which took
off from here, the airfield behind me,
uh Sandown Airport at around 9:00 this
morning. It crashed on Shanklin Road,
which is about 1.6 miles as the crow
flies in front of me uh here. Um it's a
busy day on the airfield. It is bank
holiday weekend. And there's been plenty
of uh flights uh taking off, coming and
going. This helicopter was taking part
in a flying lesson at around 9:00 this
morning. We understand it was the second
helicopter trip to take off this
morning. We're told they tend to do the
lessons in the morning and then the
pleasure flights around the coast in the
afternoon. The statement from police
saying that they confirm three people
have died. Four people in total were on
board. one person who we know was
airlifted to University Hospital in
Southampton to the major trauma unit
there. That person is in a serious
condition. Police saying they're unable
to confirm exactly who has died, whether
or not it is the pilot or perhaps the
three passengers on board or not.
They're still trying to firm up and make
contact uh with their families. Uh so a
tragic incident here. It was around 20 9
that emergency services were first
alerted by members of the public that
the helicopter had come down. And of
course from the images from the Sky News
helicopter we can see that it came down
on the side of the road in a head
Shanklin road there which leads to
Shanklin Town a very busy tourist town
at this time of year and eyewitnesses
describing how the helicopter spiraled
uh and that it was a miracle that no
vehicles were struck as well.
The air accident investigation branch in
the last couple of minutes we have seen
have arrived here at Sandown airport. Uh
that investigation work by them to
establish just how this unfolded begins
straight away.