(Washington) A Vietnam War-era helicopter used for sightseeing flights crashed in a rural area of the US state of West Virginia on Wednesday, killing all six people on board, officials said. local authorities and media.
The FAA, the US civil aviation regulator, said it would investigate with the US transportation safety agency, the NTSB, into the crash which happened late Wednesday afternoon and the cause of which was not yet known.
“We have confirmed six deaths,” Ray Bryant, chief operating officer of the Logan County Emergency Management Office, told AFP on Thursday.
The aircraft, a Bell UH-1B, crashed near a road, authorities said.
The helicopter, based at a nearby airport and used for sightseeing flights, was ablaze when rescuers arrived, Bryant told WSAZ.
Local resident Bobbi Childs told WOWK-TV that she rushed to the scene after seeing flames and smoke.
“I saw that there was a man trapped, I imagine (it was) the captain […]. I tried to reach him, but the fire was too strong. I could not reach him, ”she said, quoted by the chain.
The Bell UH-1B, nicknamed the “Huey”, was developed in the 1950s and used extensively by the United States military during the Vietnam War.
Six die in vintage helicopter crash in West Virginia – The Guardian US https://t.co/IPcSmYXbyY
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