A helicopter carrying a human transplant organ crashed on a hospital rooftop pad in Los Angeles on Sunday. No one was seriously injured, though all three aboard came close to the worst outcome when the helicopter rolled over on the very edge of the pad, which is six stories high and sits high above the emergency arrival drive into the hospital. No one at the hospital was injured in the crash, and hospital administrators said that no procedures were adversely affected.
While it was arriving at USC Keck Hospital in Los Angeles from San Diego-area La Mesa Sharp-Grossmont Hospital, the AgustaWestland A109 reportedly experienced a hard landing and then flipped over. The elevated helipad itself takes up a large section of one side of the roof, and a safety fence, laid flat and reinforced, extends from the pad on all four sides. But the side that the craft came to rest next to has a drop-off all the way to the ground.
With no one aboard having suffered serious injuries, according to authorities, the focus of concern was immediately on the heart that was being transported.
According to the hospital, the heart was not damaged in the crash, and it was transplanted into its recipient around two hours later.
