Driver accused of murder over bus collision before fatal LA chopper crash

A Los Angeles woman has been arrested after allegedly driving an SUV into a public bus, killing two people and injuring six others, hours prior to a news helicopter covering the incident crashing nearby.

Bailee Lynn Rios, 36, of Simi Valley, was arrested on Tuesday night, local time, and was being held at a Los Angeles jail with bail set at $US4 million ($5.6 million), police said on Wednesday.

The case is under review by the local district attorney's office, which will decide whether to file the charges in court or pursue different ones.

The helicopter, which was used by NBC and Telemundo, crashed about two hours after police say Ms Rios drove her 2004 Ford Expedition the wrong way down a busy avenue, ran a red light and struck a vehicle before hitting the bus.

One passenger was fully ejected from the bus and another was partially ejected, police said.

Ms Rios's mother, Cindy Rios, said she was shocked and saddened by the string of events.

She said she had not spoken to her daughter since her arrest and had not been contacted by law enforcement officers.

"The fact that my daughter was involved and was the cause of it is just extremely disturbing," Cindy Rios told The Associated Press in a phone interview.

"If anything, I'm sorry for the other families … My daughter's alive. People lost their lives."

The two people who died in the bus crash were identified as Daniel Castillo, 46, of Los Angeles, and Gage Weida, 31.

Mr Castillo's youngest daughter, Johaunna, said her father's presence made people feel loved, welcomed and cared for. He is survived by his four children.

"There are no words that can truly capture how much we will miss him or the space he leaves behind in our lives," Ms Castillo wrote on a fundraising page for funeral expenses.

Investigators scour helicopter crew's final moments

Seasoned aerial reporter Eliana Moreno and experienced pilot George Marciniw were killed while flying over the fatal bus crash, when their helicopter fell from the sky in the neighbourhood of Chatsworth, in the San Fernando Valley.

Another person on the ground, identified as 29-year-old Edy Gutierrez Mejia, died in a car park near the helicopter crash site. He was from Guatemala, the country's consulate confirmed.

There were no immediate details about what caused the helicopter crash, but an alarm could be heard sounding inside the helicopter's cockpit as it lost altitude in the final seconds of video the crew broadcast before the crash.

Just after the beeping noise starts, a woman's voice can be heard saying "uh oh".

The helicopter moves quickly away from the bus crash site and starts losing altitude.

The woman says: "You can't pull up?" before the video stops as the helicopter nears the ground.

"That video is probably the most important evidence that we have discovered so far," National Transportation Safety Board investigator Fabian Salazar said on Wednesday at a news briefing.

Mr Salazar said the sounds were consistent with the helicopter's engine changing speed, as well as what he said were likely advisory tones for the pilot.

The NTSB said it was also investigating the bus collision.

The helicopter, a Eurocopter AS350, went down near a large storage facility. At least four cars and two storage containers burned after the helicopter caught fire.

Anchor and reporters pay tearful tributes to colleagues

Moreno was a familiar voice for NBC4 and Telemundo 52 during the station's aerial coverage.

She and Mr Marciniw were both employees of Angel City Air, which operated the helicopter for the station.

Born in Orange County, Moreno joined Angel City Air in 2010, the same year she earned a broadcast journalism and political science degree from Chapman University.

She reported for several news outlets and began flying with Mr Marciniw in 2023, the NBC4 website said.

Mr Marciniw grew up in Southern California and graduated from Burbank High School in 1974.

"I think a lot of us are still trying to process what happened, this terrible loss," NBC4 reporter Lauren Coronado told viewers early on Wednesday as she stood near the crash site.

A hazmat crew was cleaning up jet fuel, she said.

In a tribute to the pair, the newscast referred to them as "the team in the sky", saying Moreno often posted videos from her job and was in awe of the view.

Anchor Lynette Romero held a colleague's hand and wiped away tears after hearing Moreno's voice when one of her posts was played.

Jake Asner, who worked with Moreno in 2022 during a four-month internship, said she was a driven journalist.

"She could be listening to six different scanners, be talking to the assignment desk, reporting in English and Spanish and controlling the camera, all at the same time," he said.

Asner helped start a memorial near Whiteman Airport, where the helicopter was based.

A friend of Mr Marciniw, George Kapoyan, came to lay flowers and remembered the pilot as "a gentle, humble giant" who took all the time he needed to conduct pre-flight safety checks and was very thorough when communicating with air traffic control.