Verified sources.
Clear updates.
Fate of two passengers onboard helicopter that went down Friday morning remains unknown after more than 24 hours The fate of two passengers onboard a firefighting helicopter that crashed Friday morning in Utah remains unknown after more than 24 hours, as one of the country’s largest wildfires continues to grow, preventing authorities from safely reaching the accident site. The Sikorsky S-64 helicopter, contracted by the US Forest Service, was responding on Friday to the Widemouth 2 fire, a blaze sparked in late July by lightning, when it crashed in a remote area of central Utah . Widemouth 2 has swept through more than 114,600 acres (46,400 hectares) and is 24% contained, as of Saturday. That figure marked a jump from early on Friday, where the fire’s scope was reported as reaching more than 105,000 acres, according to state data. The chopper’s crash ignited a new blaze, state authorities said at a news conference on Friday evening.
Missing media or need the complete publisher report? Open The Guardian World
Media link supplied by the Scoop Newsroom app.
The text below was supplied by the Scoop Newsroom app. Third-party reporting is attributed in the source panel.
In a Saturday daily report, however, the US National Interagency Fire Center, a coalition of state and federal agencies, said the helicopter’s “pilot and one crewmember were fatally injured”.
