Pilot gives thumbs-up after helicopter crash

THE pilot of a helicopter that crashed near a river after going into a spin gave a “thumbs-up” as he escaped with minor injuries yesterday.

An ambulance crew was called to Mapledurham estate next to the Thames, near Reading, just before 6pm yesterday. A witness, who was at his son’s football training at the time, told the Press Association: “It flew over quite low and circled the playing field, it then went towards the river and flew along it.

“It then started to look like it was coming into land, it then went below the tree line but we could see it go into a spin, next we heard a loud thud. We ran over and saw it was laying on its side, it was on the opposite side of the river to us but we could see someone over there and shouted if everyone got out OK, they gave us a thumbs-up.”

A spokesman for South Central Ambulance Service said two men had been treated at the scene of the crash for minor injuries but did not require hospital treatment.