Chatsworth is reeling from what Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called a “heartbreaking night” for the city: a Metro bus slammed by a speeding SUV on Nordhoff Street, followed less than two hours later by the fiery crash of an NBC4 and Telemundo 52 news helicopter dispatched to cover it. By the time crews cleared the smoke over the San Fernando Valley neighborhood, six people were dead across the two incidents — including Eliana Moreno, a bilingual aerial reporter and familiar voice to Telemundo 52’s Spanish-speaking audience.
The Bus Crash
The first crash happened just after 5 p.m. Tuesday, when a Metro Line 166 bus traveling eastbound on Nordhoff Street was T-boned by an SUV heading southbound on De Soto Avenue. Witnesses said the SUV was traveling at freeway speeds, ran a red light, and never braked before impact. The Los Angeles Fire Department reported eight total patients: two dead at the scene, six taken to hospitals. The SUV’s driver later died from injuries, according to Metro spokesman Jose Ubaldo, bringing the crash’s toll to three.
The Helicopter Crash
Several television news helicopters, including NBC4 and Telemundo 52’s NewsChopper4, had been circling the bus crash scene when, roughly two hours later and about a mile and a half away, NewsChopper4 went down between two commercial buildings near a Chatsworth storage facility. Witnesses described the aircraft swaying before it dropped and burst into flames, a fire that spread to four parked cars and two storage containers. Killed were pilot George Marciniw and journalist Eliana Moreno; a third victim was a person on the ground. Two others were hospitalized.
Official Reaction
Bass, joined by other officials at a late-night news conference near the crash site, said the city had lost five Angelenos that day, a figure she gave before the SUV driver’s death was confirmed at the hospital, raising the combined toll to six. “This is a heartbreaking night for our city, and my thoughts and prayers are first and foremost with the families and loved ones that we lost today,” Bass said. California Gov. Gavin Newsom echoed her grief in a statement posted online, saying his heart was with the victims and families of “tonight’s devastating Metro bus and helicopter crashes in Chatsworth, and with the entire NBC4 family.” After the news conference, Bass and other officials were seen embracing a crying NBC reporter at the scene, who was also comforted by fellow journalists.
NBC4 and Telemundo 52 released a joint statement calling the crash a “fatal accident” and extending “heartfelt condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of those who lost their lives.” On air, longtime NBC4 anchor Colleen Williams broke the news to viewers in real time, confirming the station had lost contact with its helicopter crew before later verifying that NewsChopper4 had gone down. “We’re going to take a couple of minutes to think about that, to process and to regroup,” Williams said, her voice shaking, before the station briefly cut away from coverage.
Remembering Eliana Moreno
Moreno, a Chapman University graduate with a degree in broadcast journalism and political science, joined the Angel City Air helicopter team in 2010 and began flying alongside Marciniw in 2023. Raised in Orange County, she built a career across several Southern California newsrooms before becoming one of the most recognized aerial voices for NBC4 and, in Spanish, for Telemundo 52 — reporting live from the sky on everything from wildfires to freeway pileups for the region’s bilingual audience. Colleagues described her as a steady, familiar presence during breaking news, someone viewers trusted to narrate chaos calmly from above.
What Comes Next
The National Transportation Safety Board confirmed it is investigating the crash of the helicopter, a Eurocopter AS 350 B2, with investigators expected on scene Wednesday morning alongside the Federal Aviation Administration. Fire officials said the aircraft was largely destroyed on impact. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Police Department is leading the investigation into the bus crash and is asking anyone with information to contact the LA Regional Crime Stoppers Hotline. Both investigations remain in early stages, and neither agency has released a cause for either crash.
