Three members of an air ambulance crew were killed when their helicopter crashed on late January 20 in Oklahoma, local officials said. A goose was likely behind the crash.
US-based National Transportation Safety Board said in its preliminary report that a dead goose was found in part of the flight control system of a medical helicopter.
The crash was reported near Weatherford. The control centre said it lost contact with the Air Evac Lifeteam helicopter crew shortly before 11:30 pm (local time), the company said in a statement Sunday.
The report does not specify a specific reason for the disaster, but it does mention that one goose was found in the helicopter’s flight control system and others in the debris field. According to the NTSB, a report on the probable cause could take up to two years to complete.
The helicopter crashed when it was returning to Weatherford after taking a patient to an Oklahoma City hospital. The pilot and both Air Evac Lifeteam crew members, a flight nurse and a paramedic, were killed.
The company had written on the social media platform Facebook, “Air Evac Lifeteam is heartbroken to report that three crew members have perished in an incident that occurred on Saturday, January 20.”
Air Evac is an EMS and air ambulance provider that operates out of 150 bases in more than a dozen US states, including Oklahoma.
Nearby Air Evac crews supported law enforcement in their search for the crew members. In the preliminary report, the company did not reveal where the Bell 206L3 was exactly discovered.
Air Evac had said, “Our primary focus is on supporting the families and our team members. At this time, we are not sharing the names of the crew members aboard the flight. We ask that you respect the privacy of our team members and their families, and please do not share their names.”
(With inputs from agencies)
