A helicopter crash-landed on the roof of a 54-story office building in midtown Manhattan Monday, sparking a fire and killing at least one person, authorities say.

A call about the incident at the AXA Equitable Center on Seventh Avenue and West 51st Street came in shortly before 2 p.m. The NYPD confirmed the hard landing on the roof of 787 Seventh Avenue; it wasn’t clear why the chopper would have tried to land there, nor was it clear who owned the chopper.

787 7th ave, #midtown NYC. We’re 1 block south. 20 mins ago there was a loud sound like a too-low #helicopter & I looked up and saw sheet of flame on roof and then smoke. News reports saying helicopter/small plane crash onto roof which would be consistent with what I heard/saw. pic.twitter.com/swY3ksLskH — Lance Koonce (@LHKoonce) June 10, 2019

The Federal Aviation Administration said it was an Agusta A109E helicopter and a preliminary investigation indicated the pilot was the only person aboard. Air traffic controllers did not handle the flight, the FAA said, adding that the National Transportation Safety Board would lead the investigation. The NTSB said a short time earlier that it was aware of the situation and monitoring developments.

DEVELOPING: helicopter crashed into a building in Midtown Manhattan at 51st and 7th. Here is footage of the helicopter flying erratically before the crash (via @ThingsWendySees) pic.twitter.com/zCowdKvKuL — Cooper Lawrence (@CooperLawrence) June 10, 2019

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