Three dead and two injured in Newport Beach helicopter crash

Three people were killed and two others injured when a helicopter crashed into a house in a gated community in southern California.

“All of a sudden the house just shook and I thought ‘Oh my gosh, we’re having an earthquake’,” said Marian Michaels, who lives behind the home in a gated community in Newport Beach, where the helicopter crashed.

Roger Johnson was doing some woodwork when he heard the sound of a helicopter’s rotating blades and then a tremendous boom across the street.

“I turned to look out of the garage and that’s when I see this piece of metal flying through the air and hitting a bush and garage door,” he said.

“Then I heard someone scream - a real for-real horror scream, like something terrible had happened.”

Four people were on board the Robinson R44 helicopter when it went down around 1.50pm local time yesterday, minutes after taking off from John Wayne Airport, about a mile away.