Two utility workers were killed and two others were injured when the helicopter they were using to inspect power lines in upstate New York crashed.
There were four workers on the helicopter as it hovered between 65 and 80 feet off the ground while the crew was inspecting the lines, when they somehow became tangled in the blades of the helicopter, causing it to burst into flames and crash to the ground.
"I saw something off in the distance kind of smoking, [and] thought maybe it was a transformer that had blown up or something, but as I kept coming up on it I saw bigger flames and as I got closer I could tell it was something else but you could see people down in the field doing CPR and the victims and everything," eyewitness Heather Porter told WVNY.
All four men inside managed to jump out of the helicopter before it hit the ground. The two injured men were taken to the hospital and have since been released.
"The helicopter at the time of the incident was working on the power lines or the structure that supports them, and at some point something catastrophic happened that caused the aircraft to crash; that's not been determined yet what really the cause was," Clinton County Emergency Manager Eric Day said.
Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are on site and looking into the tragic accident.