Three people critical after helicopter crash

Three people have been critically injured after a helicopter crash in Sacramento, according to the Californian city's fire department.

Images from the scene show a medical helicopter lying upside down on the eastbound lanes of Highway 50. The helicopter had taken a patient to hospital and was returning to the place from which it had been dispatched when it experienced an "in-air emergency" just after 7pm local time (3am UK time), according to Captain Justin Sylvia, from the Sacramento Fire Department.

He said there were a pilot, nurse and paramedic on board at the time of the crash, who were taken to hospital in a "critical condition". Mr Sylvia said the crew consisted of two women and one man.

One of the women was trapped underneath the helicopter, with civilians on the highway helping the fire department to lift part of the helicopter out of the way to free the victim and get her into an ambulance. "It took every ounce of approximately 15 people to move that aircraft up just enough to get her out," Mr Sylvia said at a news conference.

He added: "There's a pretty large debris field around that at this point. The lucky portion for us, I'd say, is the fact that the helicopter did not catch on fire." No vehicles were involved in the crash and no one on the highway was injured, Mr Sylvia said, adding that this was "mind-blowing" given that the helicopter crashed in the centre of the road.

"People reported that they basically saw the helicopter kind of going down quickly, so all the traffic slowed down," he explained. Sacramento City councilwoman Lisa Kaplan was with local law enforcement responding to the crash.

She described plumes of white smoke coming out of the crashed helicopter. "It's really sombering and sobering.

I am up flying with sheriff pilots that do this day in and day out. And it really makes you grateful for every day and grateful for our officers and our medical pilots," she said.

The road is expected to be closed for an extended time, according to Officer Michael Harper, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol. "The cause of the crash is still under investigation," his colleague, Officer Mike Carillo, added.

Read more from Sky News:US Supreme Court rejects Maxwell's appeal requestIs another spectacular Bitcoin comedown inevitable? The helicopter appears to belong to REACH Air Medical Services, which confirmed to ABC7 that three of its crew were hurt in the crash. The Federal Aviation Administration did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment..