BBC(NI)News
Eyewitnesses said the Lynx helicopter clipped a fence near the Lismore housing estate before crashing in the field.
Vincent McParland said the helicopter came in hard
Vincent McParland and his wife watched the crash from their kitchen.
"We heard it coming and looked out, it was coming in brave and hard and low, next thing it swooped round and we saw it going round twice and went over on its side - next thing it hit the ground," he said.
The police said that ambulance crews removing the casualties from the scene came under attack by local youths throwing stones, fireworks and snowballs.
Similar attacks were made on police officers on the ground. There are no reports of any casualties.
I suspect that it was a bit more than a few harmless snowballs, but glad to hear that all are safe. Worth a note that the eyewitness is unlikely to be an unbiased rotary expert and 'brave and hard' is more akin to tabloid headlines, whilst any helicopter about to land will be 'low'. I cannot believe for one min that the population of Crossmaglen stop all to watch helicopters that have been a normal part of daily life there for decades. It would be like me stopping top watch a car drive by, one of hundreds every day. Not much in the way of Nr when it rolled though, else all the blades would be in bits.