2 dead in China helicopter crash

Two people died in a helicopter crash in south China's Guangdong Province on Monday afternoon, local police said. The crash happened at about 4 p.m. on open ground in Dagang Township, Nansha District of the provincial capital city of Guangzhou, the municipal public security bureau posted on Sina Weibo, a Chinese Twitter-like microblogging platform. The two people aboard the helicopter, a 37-year-old male pilot surnamed Pan and a 25-year-old female trainee pilot surnamed Xi, died instantly, according to a police update. They were engaged in a training course at the time of the accident. The helicopter belonged to a general aviation company based in Guangzhou, it said. The cause of the accident is under investigation.