Officials said two people working on the powerline near the Mississippi river died on Thursday when their helicopter hit the lines, crashed into a barge and a fire, which urged the plum of black smoke, said the officials said.
The helicopter crew was near Elton, about 20 miles (32 km) north of St. Louis, when it looked after the river’s Missouri. Officials said no other injury was reported.
Adam Brigs was on the opposite edge when all this happened and the accident scene was shot.
He said, “The helicopter was just working on these power lines, hit the power line, blown,” he said in the video that the flames shine through the rolling smoke. “There was a pilot, a worker, the helicopter blew up and fell and crashed into that barge and it is still exploding.”
“They are dead. They have to be dead,” Brigs said in shock.
A spokesperson of the power company Ameran said that a contractor and his subcontinent lines were repairing and replacing the tower lighting and marker balls.
“Our views and heartfelt condolences are with the families and colleagues of the victims,” Ameren said in a statement, saying that they would cooperate in the investigation.
Kyle Gains, a spokesman from the St. Charles County Ambulance district, said that the collision responded to about a dozen agencies in Illinois and Missouri.
Elton’s Deputy Fire Chief Mat Fisher said that the nearby fire department reached the accident site from the boat and a private tug boat helped to sink the flames.
The state patrol said that when the helicopter entered into it and the fire was extinguished, the fire was extinguished. The river has been closed for commercial traffic.
Rick Pender, head of the River Point Fire District, said the helicopter crashed on the Mississippi River at around 11 am on the Mississippi River.
Pender said that federal agencies were on the way. The FAA and the National Transport Safety Board will investigate the accident. NTSB said an inventor was expected to visit the site on Friday. The helicopter, the agency said, an MD was 369, which is usually small.
In 2018, A helicopter crew crashed in Pennsylvania, killing two people and injuring the pilot.
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Associated press reporter Jack Dura Bismarck, North Dakota; Beatrice Dupui in New York City; And Rio Yamat contributed to Las Vegas.
Jesse Bedain, Associated Press