WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A man has died after an unlicensed helicopter crashed into the roof of a hotel in Queensland, Australia, early Monday morning. Hundreds of people had to be evacuated from the building as flames engulfed the aircraft.
Cairns city authorities said they had not confirmed the identity of the pilot, his reason for the flight or how the tourist helicopter was able to take off from Cairns Airport.
A couple staying at the hotel were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation and have since been discharged, Queensland Police Service Acting Chief Inspector Shane Holmes told reporters. No one else on the ground was injured.
Holmes said it was not known whether the man flying the helicopter had a pilot’s license or whether he worked for the company that owned the aircraft, Nautilus Aviation.
“There is no further threat to the community and we believe this is an isolated incident,” Holmes said.
Nautilus Aviation said in an unattributed written statement that the flight was “unauthorized” but would not provide further details.
Richard Barker, CEO of Cairns Airport, said initial findings from an investigation on Monday showed “there has been no breach of the airport’s security program or processes.”
About 400 people were evacuated from the hotel after the crash, which occurred in the early morning hours in a busy tourist district of Cairns — a tropical city of 150,000 in Queensland’s far north — which is the peak holiday season. Witnesses told local news outlets the crash sounded like a bomb going off.
Smoke and flames billowed from the roof of the Doubletree Hilton and one of the helicopter’s rotor blades landed in the hotel’s swimming pool, Australian broadcaster ABC reported.
The hotel remains cordoned off while its structural integrity is investigated.
