RIO DE JANEIRO – A police helicopter flying over a clash between drug gangs was hit by gunfire and crashed Saturday, police said. Two officers were killed.
Bullets from the Morro dos Macacos slum in northern Rio de Janeiro hit the helicopter pilot in the leg, causing him to lose control and crash in a nearby football field, a police spokesman said.
The official — speaking on condition of anonymity as he wasn’t authorized to discuss the event — earlier said all four people in the helicopter had escaped alive, but later said two of those aboard had died.
The pilot and another surviving officer aboard suffered burns.
Television images showed the blackened wreckage of the chopper in the middle of the football field.
Police were not able to say if this was the first time one of their helicopters had been shot down.
