"A number of people" have been injured after a helicopter has crashed into a building in Ireland.

Emergency services have descended on the scene in Killucan, County Westmeath after the incident - which police confirmed happened at around 3.30pm today.

Acting chief fire officer with Westmeath Fire and Rescue Service Pat Hunt said there had been "a number of casualties".

Speaking on the Midlands 103 radio station, he said: "We understand that it's an incident involving a helicopter crashing into a building in the Joristown Upper townland in Killucan, Co Westmeath.

"All the the principal response agencies are mobilising to the scene: An Garda Siochana, the ambulance service and ourselves.

"What we can understand is that there are a number of casualties involved, but again, we cannot at this stage confirm the number."

The Irish Air Accident Investigation Unit said it had deployed a team of inspectors to the site of the single-engine helicopter crash.

Data from air traffic monitoring site FlightRadar24 indicated that the helicopter, understood to be a Bell 505 Jet Ranger X, stopped submitting flight data while flying northeast of Killucan, near what appears to be a number of farm buildings.