LOGAN, W.Va. (AP) — Six people were killed when a helicopter crashed in West Virginia on Wednesday, authorities said.
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The Vietnam-era helicopter was based at the Logan airport and used for tourism flights, Ray Bryant, chief of operations for Logan County’s office of emergency management, told WSAZ-TV. All six on board were killed, the office’s deputy director, Sonya Porter, told WCHS-TV.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the Bell UH-1B helicopter crashed near Route 17 in Logan County around 5 p.m.
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.
Firefighters arrived to extinguish the flames, Bryant said.
“The cockpit of the aircraft is burned up,” Bryant told WOWK-TV. “The tail boom is laying across the road. It is recognizable, we knew it was a local helicopter.”
The road was expected to remain closed for at least 24 hours. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.