The network anchor at the time, Shepard Smith, apologized to viewers after returning from a sudden commercial break. “That won’t happen again on my watch, and I’m sorry,” Smith said, was was clearly shaken by what happened. (scroll down to see apology)

Fox News Channel released a statement explaining what happened:

“We took every precaution to avoid any such live incident by putting the helicopter pictures on a five second delay. Unfortunately, this mistake was the result of a severe human error and we apologize for what viewers ultimately saw on the screen.”

Michael Clemente, executive VP, news editorial.