Photojournalist Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw have been named as being among three people killed after an NBC Los Angeles helicopter crashed in the city’s suburbs, the station has confirmed.
NBC Los Angeles said its NewsChopper4, which also operated for Telemundo 52, was in the area on Tuesday reporting on a deadly bus crash which killed two people.
Fire officials said an unidentified pedestrian was also killed, and two others were taken to hospital.
Tributes, including from the local news community, have started to come in led by the station’s hosts, who called the victims “valued friends and colleagues”. One CBS editor said their “hearts are shattered”.
“That helicopter community is a small group of people, and it’s just devastating to know that this has happened to one of those people, to our friends and our colleagues at NBC4,” said Mike Rogers, CBS Los Angeles assignment editor.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said she was “absolutely devastated by the loss of life in Chatsworth tonight”.
“My heart is with the families and loved ones of those we lost in the tragic bus collision and helicopter crash,” she wrote on X, while the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) similarly extended its “thoughts and prayers” to all those affected.
