WATCH: Cape Town helicopter crash sparks probe

It's considered one of the most dangerous jobs on the planet, and now investigations are underway into the helicopter crash in Cape Town this week, which, miraculously, saw the pilot walk away with his life.

Dramatic footage of the incident has gone viral on social media and shows the firefighting aircraft clip the mountainside before flipping over and bursting into flames.

"It's quite remarkable that it was caught on camera," says Primedia+ Digital Editor Barbara Freidman.

The Kishugu-operated helicopter had been deployed in response to the blaze that had broken out above Hout Bay and Constantia Nek on Wednesday.

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"You can actually see the helicopter flying across the mountain... people are filming from below, and literally you can see how it clips it and burns and goes down."

Friedman says the speed at which footage of the crash made its way onto the internet meant it wasn't immediately clear whether anyone had been harmed during the incident.

"The miracle is that he escaped, he survived, and everybody at the time was posting and wondering what had happened to him."

The Daily Maverick reports that Linton Rensburg, team leader at Kishugu Aviation, described pilot Mike Bothma as being 'a little bit shaken' after the incident.

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"It seems he probably miscalculated; the rocky outcrops are probably quite difficult to ascertain."