<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Two helicopters collided mid-air killing four people Monday on Australia's Gold Coast tourism destination, officials said, with images showing one of the aircraft's rotors lying on a sand bank.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Three other people are in a critical condition, police said.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One helicopter lay flipped over on the sand a few feet from the shore. Its rotors lay a short distance away, images from public broadcaster ABC showed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The other chopper appeared to be largely intact at the accident scene, which is near the popular Sea World marine theme park.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A bright yellow rescue helicopter had landed on the sand nearby, its rotors spinning, images of the aftermath showed, as scores of rescuers spread around the area.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Several police and rescue vessels stood by just off the sandbank strewn with the wreckage of the two aircraft.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Those two aircraft, when collided, have crash landed, and landed, on the sandbank just out from Sea World resort," Queensland police service acting inspector Gary Worrell told a news conference at the scene.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"As a result of that, four people have lost their lives today," he said. "Three others are critical in hospital."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Australia's transport safety bureau launched an investigation into the incident, which it described as a "mid-air collision".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Investigators were expected to arrive shortly to examine the wreckage and map the site, as well as recover components for examination, it said in a statemen. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>