the tail section was cut off by the approaching VH-XH9
Really? If the departing aircraft's main rotor hit the front of XH9, causing all that damage, it would be likely that the torque forces of the sudden stoppage would shake the tail off, as has happened before (old video of a Squirrel blade contacting a cable, tail falls off, Jolly Greens in formation clash blades, tails fall off) and the tail-less rotor-less fuselage drops to the ground. The rotor of XH9 would be above and forward of the tail boom, and such a contact would have been catastrophic for the second aircraft too.