World News | Reports: Six People Die in Helicopter Crash in West Virginia
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. A Vietnam-era helicopter that carried tourists over West Virginia crashed and burned, killing all six people on board, authorities said.
Charleston, Jun 23 (AP) A Vietnam-era helicopter that carried tourists over West Virginia crashed and burned, killing all six people on board, authorities said.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the Bell UH-1B helicopter crashed along Route 17 in Logan County around 5 pm Wednesday.
All six on board were killed, said Ray Bryant, chief of operations for Logan County emergency ambulance service authority.
The helicopter crashed in clear weather on a highway near the local airport, he said.
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“The entire cab of it was on fire,” Bryant said in a phone interview Thursday.
“It was recognised by the first responders as being a helicopter from this area because we see it a lot,” he said.
Bobbi Childs, who lives nearby, saw smoke and flames and got close enough to see a man who was trapped.
“I saw that there was a guy trapped, I guess the captain. I tried to get down to the door where he was at. You could see him plain as day. I tried to get to him, but the fire was too hot. I couldn't get to him,” Childs told WOWK-TV.
The helicopter was based at the nearby Logan airport and used for tourism flights, Bryant told WSAZ-TV.
The road was expected to remain closed for at least 24 hours.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)