Helicopter crash southwest of Melbourne leaves three individuals, two men and one female, seriously injured. The aircraft went down 40m from the shore at a beach between Point Lonsdale and Ocean Grave. All passengers have been taken to hospital in a stable condition.
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00:00A picturesque trip along Victoria's Surf Coast turned into a terrifying mid-air emergency.
00:09A pilot and two passengers were on board a helicopter when it plunged into waters between Point Lonsdale and Ocean Grove, leaving a trail of debris.
00:17Within minutes, firefighters and surf lifesavers were on scene, pulling all three from the twisted wreck around 50 metres offshore.
00:25Station officer Matthew Kneebone was one of the first to arrive.
00:29There were waves lapping up on a couple of the patients.
00:32The dense scrub making for challenging conditions for first responders.
00:36There was only two of us on scene initially. We couldn't get the truck within probably a kilometre away so we had to walk over the dunes because we weren't even sure of their location.
00:46The Robinson R44 helicopter suffered an engine failure, forcing the pilot to ditch in the ocean.
00:52A man in his 50s and a woman in her 40s suffered serious injuries and were flown to the Royal Melbourne Hospital, where they remain in a stable condition.
01:00Another man in his 50s also suffered serious injuries and was taken to a nearby hospital.
01:05We're talking pretty critical injuries.
01:08Yeah, certainly signs of shock with all of them.
01:11The Australian Transport Safety Bureau will now perform a detailed investigation into the cause of the crash, which will involve speaking to eyewitnesses, examining the recovered wreckage, as well as reviewing maintenance records of the helicopter.
01:24The Bureau says a final report will be published at the conclusion of its investigation.
01:29It was quite a traumatic scene and everyone remained calm and professional and gave those people the best chance possible.