Plane, helicopter collide in New Zealand; 2 killed

WELLINGTON: Two people were killed when a light plane and a helicopter collided in mid-air north of New Zealand's capital on Sunday, police said. The two who died were in the helicopter which, crippled by the collision, crashed onto the roof of a hardware store in the coastal settlement of Paraparaumu, said a police spokesman, who was not authorized to speak to media about the crash. Nobody inside the building was hurt. The light plane crashed onto a street, narrowly missing a house. The pilot, the sole occupant, was taken to a hospital in critical condition, emergency services said. Australian tourist Ben McGee said he helped pull the pilot from the wreckage. He said the plane's engine was torn from the fuselage by the collision. "The plane was upside down ... but he wasn't moving. He was still breathing, I could hear him breathing and whimpering," McGee told National Radio. "I asked him what his name was but he wasn't answering." Local residents used garden hoses to wash away leaking fuel as emergency workers cut the injured man from the wreckage, he said. The collision happened about 200 meters from the runway at Paraparaumu Airport.