One person has died and two others are injured after a helicopter plunged into Biscayne Bay near Miami on Wednesday.
The chartered helicopter went down shortly before noon near Bill Baggs State Park off Key Biscayne, according to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.
When sheriff's office marine patrol units got to the scene, they found a Good Samaritan trying to help one of the victims and get him to shore. He died despite Miami firefighters’ efforts to save his life.
Border protection officers found the two other helicopter occupants, both men, and turned them over to Miami-Dade rescue workers for transport to the hospital.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation, Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said. South Florida saw heavy showers over the past few days but it wasn't immediately clear if weather contributed to the crash.
Rescue workers from several local agencies, as well as the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, responded to the crash.
The Robinson R44 II helicopter was filming boats in the water when it crashed, Cordero-Stutz said at a news conference. All three people onboard were males and two remain in critical condition.
TV footage from local NBC affiliate WTVJ showed the helicopter upside down in the water with two yellow floats attached to the bottom of its landing skids. Those emergency floats are designed to help keep an aircraft afloat in water.
Officials did not immediately release the identities of any of the occupants. The FAA and NTSB will investigate.
The helicopter went down off the coast of Miami just three days after a private jet crashed in nearby Palm Beach County, killing all nine people onboard.
The Learjet 90 plane, which was heading to the Bahamas, slammed into the ground with such force it created a crater and shattered the aircraft with parts found up to 3.8 miles away from the site.
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