A helicopter crashed into a farm building at Joristown, near Killucan, Co Westmeath, at 3.30pm on Tuesday.

It is understood that the vehicle crashed into a shed on a pig farm and all available emergency services attended the scene.

The incident resulted in casualties, although it is unclear how many, according to acting chief fire officer with Westmeath Fire Service Pat Hunt, who spoke on Midlands 103 shortly after the incident.

"Mullingar Fire Brigade and all available units have been mobilised to the scene," Hunt said.

“At the moment, it is a breaking news story, we have all the principal response agencies mobilising to the scene. That would be an Garda Síochána, the ambulance service and ourselves.

“What we can understand is that there are a number of casualties involved, but we can’t at this stage confirm the number.”