MARCH 13, 2015
EUFAULA, OKLAHOMA
Authorities say one person is dead and two are injured after
an EagleMed LLC medical helicopter crashed in the woods in eastern Oklahoma.
McIntosh County Emergency Management Director Wesley Dawson
says the crash was reported about 11:40 p.m. Thursday. Dawson says searchers on
foot and on all-terrain vehicles found the wreckage about 4 a.m. Friday. The U.S. Air Force assisted in locating the
crash site west of Eufaula, about 120 miles east of Oklahoma City.
The crash site is west of Eufaula, about 120 miles east of
Oklahoma City.
EagleMed, of Wichita, Kansas, said in a statement that all
three on board the helicopter were EagleMed employees. No names or the
conditions of the survivors have been released.
"First and foremost our thoughts and prayers are with
the families and loved ones of those involved and our entire EagleMed
family," the company, based in Wichita, Kansas, said in a statement.
The aircraft, an Airbus AS350, was flying to McAlester from
Tulsa when it crashed, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, and no
patients were on board.
A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman says agency
investigators are being sent to the scene and that the National Transportation
Safety Board will lead the investigation.
There have been other deadly crashes of EagleMed helicopters
in the past.