A helicopter has crashed into a building near the Irish village of Killucan causing “a number of casualties”, the head of the local fire service has said, as emergency workers rushed to the scene.

Irish police said the crash happened at approximately 3.30pm on Tuesday on farmland to the east of the village.

A photo on the RTÉ website showed a helicopter embedded in what appeared to be the roof of a farm building.

RTÉ television news has reported that shortly before 6pm a hearse arrived at the scene of the crash.

Local people told RTÉ Drivetime that the crash happened at a piggery behind the local Gaelic Athletic Association sports grounds.

The acting chief fire officer of Westmeath fire and rescue service, Pat Hunt, said: “We understand that it’s an incident involving a helicopter crashing into a building in the Joristown upper townland in Killucan, Co Westmeath.”

He told Midlands 103 radio station: “All the principal response agencies are mobilising to the scene: An Garda Síochána, 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 sent a team of inspectors to the site of the single-engine helicopter crash.

The Garda Síochána said that as it was “a live and ongoing operation, no further information is available at this time”.

The mayor of Mullingar-Kinnegad municipal district, Ken Glynn, described the crash as “shocking and tragic”. He said his thoughts and prayers were with the families of those involved and the first responders. “It is a difficult scene for emergency services to be attending,” he told RTÉ.

Fr Stan Deegan, parish priest of St Brigid’s church in nearby Raharney said he was “shocked to hear the news.

“Whoever the people are who are involved in the incident and wherever they are from, I hope and pray that life will be spared.”