It was just before two in the morning, local time, when the helicopter crashed into the hotel in the popular tourist resort. A fire broke out in the roof of the building and broken pieces of a rotor blade landed in the pool. The pilot died in the crash and two people on the ground were injured and taken to hospital. The condition of the two injured is said to be stable, according to the police. “The pilot, who was the only occupant of the helicopter, was pronounced dead at the scene. Forensic investigations are ongoing to formally identify the person,” Queensland State Police said in a statement. Queensland Ambulance Service chief Caitlin Denning said the helicopter’s rotor blades had come off. – One landed on the Cairns esplanade and the other, which had caught fire, in the hotel pool on the ground floor, she tells local media.
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