Breaking: Helicopter crashes into Australian hotel, killing the pilot

In the city of Cairns in northern Queensland, a pilot's helicopter crashed onto a hotel's roof, resulting in his death. At around 01:50 a.m. local time on Monday (16:50 a.m. Sunday), an aircraft struck the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel, igniting a fire and requiring the evacuation of hundreds of guests. Two hotel guests, an 80-year-old man and a 70-year-old lady, were rushed to the hospital in stable condition, while the single person inside the helicopter, according to the authorities, died at the site. The crash's circumstances are being looked into by Queensland Police and the aviation safety watchdog; the helicopter's charterer claims it was on a "unauthorised" flight.

While sleeping at the Cairns hotel on the main esplanade, Amanda Kay told stories of witnessing a helicopter flying "extra low" in the rain without any lights. She claimed, "It has turned around and hit the building," adding that the plane "blew up". Another onlooker claimed to have witnessed the helicopter pass the hotel twice just prior to the crash. "That chopper was flying by really quickly, boy. A woman was heard saying, "Unbelievable!," as the crash's fiery aftermath was captured on camera. "It was just going out of control, that thing was." According to Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS), two of the helicopter's rotor blades broke off with the impact and landed in the hotel pool as well as on the promenade.

"There’s been reports it sounded like a bomb, and that after seeing smoke and fire from that, a lot of the occupants of the hotel were very unsure about the situation," Caitlin Dennings, a spokeswoman for the Alastair Salmon, a different guest at the hotel, said it was "a colossal ear-deafening bang". Approximately 400 persons, including Mr. Salmon from London, were taken out of the hotel. He related how he mistook the nearby helicopter rotor blade for a lamppost when he saw it on the ground. "Then we looked up there and you could see this massive hole in the window of the building," he stated.

According to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, detectives are being dispatched to the location.

In a statement, Nautilus Aviation said that as they looked into the "unauthorized use of one of our helicopters in the early hours of this morning," they would be collaborating extensively with all Queensland authorities. Police have declared an emergency and sealed off the streets surrounding the hotel. Because of its close proximity to the Great Barrier Reef, the city of Cairns, which is located in northern Queensland, is a famous tourist destination.