WATCH: Footage of helicopter crash on Bowen Island, witness describes the incident

Two people were taken to the hospital in serious but stable condition after walking away from a helicopter crash on Bowen Island Friday morning.

BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) received a call at 9:51 a.m. Friday morning for a report of a helicopter down on Bowen Island, near Mt. Gardner Road.

Tony Mainwaring, a Bowen Island resident, watched the chopper go down, catching the fall on camera. He said his daughter was on the dock waving at the helicopter before telling him that it went “upside-down”.

“Basically, it went right over our house and it started to power rotate,” said Mainwaring. “It’s was just going around and I knew right away that it was in trouble, so I pulled my phone out.”

After filming the aircraft’s quick descent, he called 9-11 and immediately hopped in his truck to drove to the area where it had fallen.

When he arrived, he was amazed to see the pilot standing outside of the crashed helicopter, seemingly unharmed.

“We just saw this mess of wreckage steaming on the cliff, it had taken out a tree that had come over on tip of it. It was actually holding it from going off the cliff,” said Mainwaring.

“I just saw a guy standing up there and I said, ‘are you the pilot?’ And he said, ‘yes'”.

He says the paramedics made it in record time, around seven minutes after the crash.

“They were both out, standing. I made sure they were okay, one was more banged up than the other,” said the Island resident.

Ground paramedics were dispatched to the area and an air ambulance helicopter was auto-launched to the scene.

The two people walked away from the crash accompanied by the Bowen Island Deputy Fire Chief. He brought them to the road where the ambulance was waiting, according to the Bowen Island municipality.

As of 12:15 p.m. on Friday, BCEHS critical care paramedics were in the middle transporting the two patients by water taxi from Bowen Island. Once they dock, ground crews will take them to hospital.

Mainwaring says he doesn’t know why it crashed, but believes the pilot was trying to land in on a flat grassy area nearby.

There is no information yet on the type of helicopter but Rick Hill, a spokesperson for Helijet, spoke with CHEK News and confirmed it was not one of their aircraft that went down.

Bowen Island is located just northwest of Vancouver, just south of the Sunshine Coast.

This story is developing and will be updated when more information becomes available

READ MORE: Nanaimo RCMP seek pair who witnessed hit-and-run in 7-11 parking lot

Editorial Policies Report an Error