A pilot has died after the plane they were traveling in crashed into the roof of a hotel in Cairns, north Queensland.
The plane landed at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel around 01:50am local time on Monday (16:50B Sunday), causing a fire that forced the evacuation of hundreds of guests.
Authorities say the only person in the helicopter died at the scene, while two hotel guests – a man in his 80s and a woman in her 70s – were taken to hospital in stable condition.
Queensland police and aviation safety watchdogs are investigating the circumstances of the crash, which the helicopter charter company says was an “unauthorized” flight.
Amanda Kay, who was staying at the Grand Esplanade Hotel in Cairns, described seeing the helicopter flying “very low”, without lights in the cloudy weather.
“[It] turned and hit the building,” he said, adding that the plane “exploded”.
One bystander said he saw the helicopter pass the hotel twice just before the collision.
“The guy who was speeding, that helicopter. It’s unbelievable,” said the woman, in a video showing the fire that broke out after the accident.
“It was just out of control, that was it.”
The helicopter’s two rotor blades came off, landing on the esplanade and the hotel’s pool, according to the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS).
“There were reports that it sounded like a bomb, too [that after] seeing the smoke and fire coming from that, many people in the hotel were not sure about the situation,” department spokesperson Caitlin Dennings told the media.
Another guest staying at the hotel, Alastair Salmon, described it to the ABC as “deafening noise”.
Mr Salmon, from London, was among around 400 people evacuated from the hotel.
He described seeing a helicopter rotor blade on the ground nearby, and thought it was a light fixture.
“Then we looked up and you could see this big hole in the window of the building,” he told the ABC.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said it was sending investigators to the scene.
In a statement, Nautilus Aviation said it would cooperate closely with all Queensland authorities as they investigate “the unauthorized use of our helicopter this morning.”
The roads around the hotel have been cordoned off and police have declared a state of emergency.
Located in northern Queensland, the city of Cairns is a popular tourist destination due to its proximity to the Great Barrier Reef.
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