UK & World News

  • 2 January 2013, 0:55

Helicopter Crashes Into Sea During Rio Rescue

Sunbathers on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach watched in horror as a helicopter crashed into the sea during a rescue.

Amateur footage showed the aircraft hovering over the water before plummeting into the Atlantic Ocean, twisting onto its left side and sinking into the choppy waters.

The crash, which has been blamed on engine failure, was witnessed by hundreds of spectators on Saturday.

All four crew members and the swimmer they were saving survived with minor injuries and were able to swim to shore.

what do you think?

2 comments

Rob Unstable

8:06pm on 1/1/2013

The swimmer they was rescueing suffered minor injuries and managed to swim to shore.....

Score: 3

Matt Stoner

9:27am on 2/1/2013

Ermmm.......there's a swimmer in "trouble"....yet near the end of the video you see everyone running into the sea to go and help the ditched chopper crew, which looks like it was only a few yards from shore anyway....Is it me, or could they have avoided all this by going in to help the swimmer before calling out the Coastguard, seeing as they didn't hestitate in going in when the chopper ditched?......

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