New dashcam footage shows horrifying moment NBC news helicopter plunges to the ground

Horrifying dashcam footage has emerged showing the moment an NBC news helicopter dropped towards the ground before crashing and killing three.

The NBC4 helicopter had flown out to Chatsworth, Los Angeles, to report on a fatal bus crash when it plunged to the ground.

The victims of the helicopter crash have since been named as photojournalist Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw from NBC's, alongside an unnamed pedestrian.

In emotional scenes aired on live TV, NBC4 Los Angeles anchor Colleen Williams confirmed that the helicopter had been one of the station’s news choppers and said they had ‘lost contact’ with their team.

She said: “We can now confirm that the chopper that went down in Chatsworth tonight, about two hours ago, was in fact news chopper four.

“We’ve been telling you that we’ve been piecing it together here, we knew it was a news chopper and we knew we’d lost contact with our people out there, and we’ve just received the confirmation that in fact news chopper four went down just before seven o’clock tonight in Chatsworth.

“We’re going to take a couple of minutes to think about that, to process and to regroup.”

The victims of the crash have since been named as photojournalist Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw from NBC's, alongside an unnamed pedestrian.

A dashcam video filmed by Yera Valencia and obtained by KTLA, shows the helicopter descending over the scene.

She told the outlet: “I downloaded the video of my dashcam. It’s a little dot on the video. It’s a crisp video and it just goes down.”

Valencia added: “God, it’s so close, it could have happened to anyone. My parents walk down the street.”

Another eyewitness, Zareh Sevanesian, told NBC he saw the helicopter crash while driving nearby. He said: "As we were driving, I looked over to my left. I saw the helicopter - something didn’t look right. And I told my wife, ‘That helicopter is not flying right.’”

Footage from inside the helicopter appeared to show Moreno asking: “You can't pull up?” before the chopper rapidly descended.

In a joint statement, NBC 4 and Telemundo 52 said it was ‘deeply saddened to share that a helicopter providing aerial news coverage for NBC4 and Telemundo 52 was involved in a fatal accident’.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass praised first responders and expressed her condolences to the victims.

“I’m absolutely devastated by the loss of life in Chatsworth tonight,” she said in a statement.

“My heart is with the families and loved ones of those we lost in the tragic bus collision and helicopter crash.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom also shared his condolences.

"Our hearts are with the victims and families of tonight's devastating Metro bus and helicopter crashes in Chatsworth, and with the entire NBC4 family,' he said in a statement.

"Thank you to the first responders working tirelessly tonight."

The cause of the helicopter crash is not yet known.

The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are currently investigating the cause of the crash.