A helicopter crashed onto the roof of a Cairns hotel, sending out a huge fireball and causing up to 400 people to be evacuated, leaving one man dead.
Emergency services were called to the DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton at around 1:50am local time after reports a twin-engine helicopter had crashed onto the roof.
Police said the helicopter’s pilot and sole passenger were pronounced dead at the scene and forensic investigators were working to formally identify them.
The company that owns the helicopter reportedly said the flight was “unauthorized.”
“Nautilus Aviation is working closely with Queensland Police, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and other authorities to investigate the unauthorised use of our helicopter in the early hours of this morning,” the company said in a statement to the ABC.
“We fully support the ongoing investigation and will not be making any further comment at this time.”
The Courier Mail previously reported that no flight plan had been drawn up.
It is unclear whether the pilot was an employee.
NewsWire has contacted Nautilus Aviation for further comment.
Veronica Knight, who was at the scene, said the helicopter was flying at an incredible speed before crashing into the hotel.
“It just kind of flew off that pier over there straight into the ocean and it was going really fast and I thought, ‘Oh, that’s weird,'” she told Sunrise on Monday morning.
“It was pretty low… I tried to get it on video but it was too fast and it was gone for about five or 10 minutes. Then it went into shock and came back on.”
“We came back along the seafront again, then we went along the Esplanade and suddenly we veered right.
“I saw a big explosion and what looked like a huge fire so I thought it had hit the motel.”
A fire broke out on the hotel’s roof after the crash and up to 400 people were evacuated, but no one on the ground was injured.
Paramedics previously confirmed they were called to the scene just after 2am and attended to a male patient with serious, life-threatening injuries.
Another man in his 80s and a woman in her 70s were treated and taken to Cairns Hospital in a stable condition.
The pair were in a room below the crash site and were being treated for shock, Seven reported.
Queensland Ambulance Service Far North region senior operations supervisor Caitlin Dennings said she heard from witnesses that the incident “sounded like a bomb”.
“The helicopter crashed onto the roof of the hotel and two propellers came off the helicopter as it landed on the Cairns Esplanade and the second propeller was in the swimming pool on the bottom floor of the hotel,” she told the Cairns Post.
Police advised residents to avoid the area.
No-go areas remain in place and include Esplanade Street, Minnie Street, Abbot Street and Florence Street.
