Three British tourists dead, four hurt, in Grand Canyon helicopter crash and inferno
‘Those victims – she was so badly burned. It’s unimaginable, the pain’
Four survivors of a deadly tour helicopter crash onto the jagged rocks of the Grand Canyon were being treated at a Nevada hospital Sunday while crews tackled difficult terrain in a remote area to try to recover the bodies of three other people.
Six British passengers and a pilot were on board the Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters chopper when it crashed under unknown circumstances Saturday evening on the Hualapai Nation’s land near Quartermaster Canyon, by the Grand Canyon’s West Rim. A witness said he saw flames and black smoke spewing from the crash site, heard explosions and saw victims who were bleeding and badly burned.
“It’s just horrible,” witness Teddy Fujimoto said. “And those victims – she was so badly burned. It’s unimaginable, the pain.”
Britain’s foreign ministry confirmed the passengers were all Britons. “We are providing support to the families of six British visitors involved in a helicopter accident at the Grand Canyon on 10 February, and we are in close contact with the US emergency services,” a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry.
Windy conditions, darkness and the rugged terrain made it difficult to reach the helicopter’s wreckage, Hualapai Nation Police Chief Francis Bradley said. Rescue crews had to fly in, walk to the crash site and use night vision goggles to find their way around, he said.
National Transportation Safety Board officials were expected at the crash scene by Sunday afternoon to begin investigating what caused the chopper to go down, Bradley said. The Federal Aviation Administration also will be investigating the crash of the Eurocopter EC130, spokesman Allen Kenitzer said.
National Weather Service meteorologists in Flagstaff and Phoenix said wind were blowing an estimated 16km/h with gusts of 32km/h around the time of the crash.