Emergency services are responding to an aircraft crash in north Canterbury this evening.
Police said it received reports of a microlight in distress near Eyrewell in the Waimakariri District around 5.20pm on Tuesday.
Fire and Emergency NZ crews responded from Cust, Oxford and Rangiora.
"[The] helicopter crashed 1km from the aerodrome," a Fire and Emergency spokesperson said.
Hato Hone St John confirmed was responding to the incident but referred inquiries to police.
There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Eyrewell resident Vickie Lawson told 1News she and her husband Steve witnessed the aircraft fall from the sky from their home.
"It just fell out of the sky, quite literally," she said.
Steve Lawson said the aircraft appeared to be about 400m from the nearby Forest Field Aerodrome when he heard its engine begin to struggle.
"The engine coughed, and then everything went silent," he recalled.
"The helicopter rotated half a turn, and then plunged. It just plummeted, and then there was just silence."
Eyrewell is about 30km northwest of Christchurch.
More to come
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