A newly-married couple watched in horror as a helicopter they had booked to pick them up plunge into the ground right before their eyes.
Damien and Wendy Hussey had planned to take the aircraft to their reception on Friday when it lost control and crashed into the ground in Kinnitty, County Offaly, Ireland.
@RTENewsNow @rtenews @RTE_TEN helicopter crash in Kinnitty village, Co.Offaly pic.twitter.com/kwbsxJVnVd
— ~Nicole~ (@_Cocadempsey_) August 1, 2014
Miraculously the pilot, whose son died in the Air France crash in 2009, escaped the wreckage unscathed, the Irish Mirror reported.
‘We heard the chopper very close and it was very low to the ground,’ said witness Michael Coughlan.
‘Then we heard a thud and we heard some metal breaking. We jumped in a car and drove to the site and there was the pilot getting out of the plane.
‘He had only a scratch on his arm. It is remarkable how unscathed he was given what happened.’
The happy couple were due to be taken from the local church to the Racket Hall Country House in Tipperary when the accident happened.
Witnesses said the helicopter hit overhead cables as it made its approach.
The Department of Transport’s Air Accident Investigation Unit is expected to carry out an investigation.
