The company that owns the helicopter that crashed into a Cairns hotel early Monday, killing the pilot and sole occupant and forcing the evacuation of 400 guests, has said in a public statement that the use of the helicopter was “unauthorized.”

At around 1.50am this morning, emergency services were called to the Double Tree Hotel by Hilton in Cairns, north Queensland, after reports that a twin-engine helicopter had crashed into a roof, causing huge plumes of smoke and a fireball to explode from the building.

The pilot was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Forensic investigators are currently working on his official identification, police said. Nautilus Aviation, owner of the helicopter, said the pilot did not have permission to fly the aircraft.

Owner of the helicopter makes public statement

“Nautilus Aviation is working closely with Queensland Police, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and other agencies as they investigate the unauthorised use of one of our helicopters in the early hours of this morning,” the statement said.

“As we continue to fully support the ongoing investigation, we will not be making any further comments at this time.” According to unconfirmed media reports, no flight plan was drawn up and it remains unclear whether the pilot was an employee.

A passerby, Veronica Knight, said the helicopter was going incredibly fast before it crashed into the hotel. “It seemed to come from the pier over there and fly straight over the sea, straight, and it was going really, really fast. I thought, ‘Wow, that doesn’t look right,'” she told Sunrise.

“It was flying quite low, so I… I tried to film it, but it was flying too fast. And then it disappeared for about five to ten minutes. Then I got a shock, it came back again. It came back along the sea again. And along the esplanade, and then suddenly it turned to the right.

“I just saw a big explosion and what looked like a huge fire and I thought, yeah, it hit the motel directly.”

After the crash, a fire broke out on the roof of the hotel and up to 400 people had to be evacuated. However, no one on the ground was injured.

Paramedics previously confirmed that they were called to the scene shortly after 2 a.m. and examined a male patient with life-threatening injuries.

– With NCA Newswire

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