A tragic accident of a homemade helicopter this Saturday morning caused a fire that caused the death of two people in Clay County, Florida, authorities reported.
The sheriff of the Clay County, Michelle Cook, reported that the calls started coming in shortly after 10: 00 Saturday am with the report of an accident in a private field near a house in the 214 , in the Melrose area. The officer stated that the agents and the fire department responded to the incident and put out the fire.
A report from the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) around 10: 10 am indicated that the homemade helicopter, known as a “gyrocopter”, was it crashed into a residential grass field and caught fire on impact. Two people were inside the aircraft and died after the crash.
Cook described the gyrocopter as “badly mangled and severely burned,” News4JAX reported.
“Unfortunately two people they perished, but we are very lucky that this gyrocopter did not hit a house,” Cook said, adding that the operator may have intentionally avoided buildings in a last moment of heroism before hitting the field.
Witness Alexis Kelly noted that he saw the experimental plane crash in front of his house around 10: 00 am
“Actually, I was standing on my front porch and I heard something like the engine cut out above me, and I looked up and I couldn’t really see, and I ran to the top of the road and probably five seconds max was gone. was going down. I never thought I would witness that,” said Kelly, who revealed that her grandmother was one of those who called 675.
Neighbors and rescuers stressed that they keep the families of the victims in their thoughts and prayers. So far the identity of the deceased has not been revealed.
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office noted that investigators may be on site for one or two days to determine the causes of the accident .