Three people were killed and four critically injured when a helicopter touring through the Grand Canyon National Park crashed and exploded in a fireball, officials told ABC News.
As investigators tried to figure out what caused the Papillion aerial-touring company helicopter to crash, a witness described to ABC News watching in disbelief as one of the survivors walk out of the flames.
Witness Lionel Douglass, who was attending a wedding on bluff about 1,000 yards away from where the helicopter crashed and exploded, said the scene reminded him of the biblical story of when Jesus rescued Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego from a fiery furnace they were cast into by King Nebuchadnezzer.
“I had taken my phone and I was zooming in to see if I could see anybody and a lady walked out of the flames and I just lost it,” Douglass told ABC News.
The helicopter “sustained substantial damage” when the crash occurred “under unknown circumstances” in the Quartermaster Canyon area of the immense wilderness wonderland on Saturday afternoon, FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer told ABC News.
Kenitzer said the helicopter crashed about 3 miles east of the Grand Canyon West Airport in Peach Springs, Arizona.
Video taken by witnesses shortly after the crash and posted on Twitter showed the helicopter engulfed in flames and black smoke, surrounded by sage and cactus at the bottom of a steep, rocky canyon.
Douglass told ABC News that he saw the helicopter plummet from the sky after doing two complete circles as if the pilot was searching for a spot to set the aircraft down.
“It happened so fast. When I saw them turning, I wasn’t sure what he was doing and by the time I yelled to everybody to turn around and look, it was all out of control,” Douglass said. “It fell down between the mountains, the tail broke in half, it hit the bottle and it was the biggest explosion you ever heard and then flames like you never seen before.”
He said the initial explosion was followed by five or six other.
He said the woman who staggered out of the flames appeared to be disoriented. Once out of harm’s way she collapsed to the ground and began screaming the name Jason.
Hualapai Nation Police Chief Francis Bradley told ABC News that the crash occurred at 5:20 p.m. local time, with six passengers and 1 pilot on board.
It is unclear if the pilot is among the injured or deceased.
The four who survived the crash were taken by rescue helicopter to the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada and remained in critical condition on Sunday afternoon, hospital spokeswoman Danita Cohen told ABC News.
According to Papillion’s website, it flies roughly 600,000 passengers a year over the Grand Canyon and on other tours.
ABC News reached out to Papillion for comment and was told by a spokeswoman on Sunday afternoon that the company is preparing a statement.
ABC News’ Rex Sakamoto and Lucien Bruggeman contributed to this report.