Two people have died after a news helicopter crashed while out on an assignment in the US state of New Jersey.
The aircraft came down in a remote forest shortly after 8pm on Tuesday, killing both the pilot and photographer on board, television station WPVI-TV said.
"A pilot and a photographer from our news team were in the helicopter when it went down while returning from an assignment at the Jersey Shore," the Philadelphia-based station said in a statement.
"Both crew members were killed."
The station has not released their names. The cause of the crash is not immediately clear.
"Our hearts are just broken for these men. They're broken for their families," reporter Katherine Scott said on Wednesday morning, reporting from near the scene of the crash.
The crash happened in Wharton State Forest in Hammonton, New Jersey.
The area is part of the New Jersey Pinelands, a million-acre wilderness that stretches across more than seven counties and features dense woods, rivers and rare plant species.
Video taken from a WTXF-TV helicopter over the wreckage site showed scattered debris, with some pieces on fire or smoking, as authorities searched with torches in the darkness.
Police officers found the wreckage early on Wednesday, just over an hour after receiving a call that a helicopter was missing, said chief of New Jersey State Park Police George Fedorczyk.
They were joined at the scene by the Federal Aviation Administration shortly after 3am.
"Due to the remote location of the scene and the limited visibility, it was determined at that point that the investigation would be suspended until sometime after daybreak," Mr Fedorczyk said at a news conference on Wednesday morning.
"Know that our thoughts are with the pilots, their families and the media community."
He said the National Transportation Safety Board was taking over the investigation and sending officials to the site.
WPVI-TV reported that it leases the helicopter from US Helicopters Inc., which is based in North Carolina. A spokesperson said company officials were not prepared to comment on Wednesday morning.
It follows other deadly helicopter crashes involving staff from television stations in the United States.
Among them was a July 2007 crash, when two helicopters from KNXV-TV and KTVK-TV collided over Phoenix while covering a police chase. Four people — both pilots and two photographers — were killed.
