Photos show crashed Sea King helicopter

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The Canadian military has released photographs taken after a Sea King helicopter tipped forward and smashed its five rotor blades on the tarmac at Canadian Forces Base Shearwater in Halifax.

No one was hurt in Monday's incident, which led to indefinite grounding of the Sea King fleet.

The first photograph taken at night shows the helicopter lying on its left side with its tail rotor lying on the right side of the tarmac, while its rotor blades are clearly bent with the tips broken off.

The second photograph taken during daytime shows a rear view of the helicopter.

On Tuesday the wing commander at the base, Lieutenant-Colonel James Hawthorne, said the taxiing chopper tipped forward causing each of the 10-metre blades to break into pieces of flying debris that dented walls and broke glass on surrounding buildings.

Investigators from the military's directorate of flight safety are continuing to conduct a technical assessment of the incident.