This is the shocking moment a police helicopter suddenly drops onto a busy road after suffering rotor failure while taking an accident victim to hospital.
The copter had just collected the truck driver from a motorway crash in Belo Horizonte, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, on 8th January.
But moments after the Federal Highway Police (PRF) aircraft took off it suffered a catastrophic rotor failure and plunged back to earth.
Horrifying dashcam footage shows the helicopter crashing down on a side road between a truck and a white car.
Amazingly the quick-thinking car driver brakes in time, avoiding a spectacular crash.
Footage of the emergency landing shows the copter rising into the air and passing at rooftop height over roadside houses and buildings.
But it begins to falter and swings wildly around before it loses height rapidly.
As it crashes onto a side road with a deafening crunch it sends up a cloud of dust and debris as the blades of its tail rotor chew up a fence.
Police quickly seal off the road and try to keep witnesses and photographers at bay as the footage ends.
Local media later named the copter crew as commander Aurelio Leal, PRF operator Lucas Puppim, co-pilot Marlus Paiva, Mobile Emergency Care Service (Samu) doctor Julio Guerra and nurse Alexsandro Marcos.
Government Copter Gets Stuck In The Mud
Neither they nor the trucker, later ferried to hospital by road, were injured in the crash landing, say police.
Commander Leal explained: “There were six of us. Everyone was fine, no one was hurt, thank God, the location was the best possible after we had the rotation loss.
“Unfortunately, the tail hit the fence.”
The Federal Highway Police (PRF) said the aircraft underwent regular maintenance and safety servicing.
They explained: “Federal Highway Police aircraft go through a rigorous acquisition, storage and maintenance process and operate with crew members who are also rigorously selected, trained and checked.”
Administrative assistant Elisa Loures, who witnessed the incident, told local media: “When the helicopter took off, tiles fell inside the house.
“To avoid them hurting my son, I jumped on top of him. It was then I noticed that the helicopter left with a strange noise and out of nowhere it started to fall.”
Driver Vitor Fabiano who was almost hit said: “A scare, right? Right in front of me. It was only a matter of seconds that I couldn’t pass by, but God stepped in for us.”
Minas Gerais State Civil Police and the Aeronautical Accident Investigation and Prevention Centre are investigating the crash.
