SYDNEY, January 28. /TASS/. A small helicopter crashed in the southwest of New Zealand's North Island. This country's police said the pilot and passengers on the plane were killed.
“Police were informed about the (helicopter) accident at around 7:30 a.m. (9:30 p.m. on January 27 Moscow time). Unfortunately, both the pilot and the sole passenger died. Work continues to examine the scene of the accident, carried out jointly with investigators of the Civil Aviation Administration,” the agency said in a statement.
There is also information that the accident occurred in the sparsely populated Pekakariki hill area, located 40 km north of Wellington. Police learned of the incident after the automatic collision warning system equipped on the crashed helicopter was activated. Debris from the plane along with the bodies of the pilot and passengers were found during a seven-hour search operation.
