Eight people were killed in a southern Louisiana marsh and ninth were reported critically injured after a helicopter bound for offshore oil fields crashed Sunday afternoon in the swamps about 100 miles southwest of New Orleans.
The helicopter, operated by PHI Inc., crashed around 3:30 shortly after take-off from PHI's base in Amelia, said Richard Rovinelli, a spokesman for the company. The cause of the accident is not clear. Rovinelli did not know what type of helicopter or exact destination. He said that the helicopter had two pilots and seven passengers. Identities of the victims have not been released.
The helicopter accident happened yesterday afternoon when a helicopter owned by PHI Inc. of Lafayette crashed shortly after take-off and died in the Louisiana swamps near PHI base in Amelia.
helicopter either owned or operated by PHI promise of yesterday afternoon with 2 pilots and passengers-7 for a total of 9 people on board, en route to an oil rig off the coast of New Orleans. Flying oil rig personnel from offshore oil rigs and the mainland via helicopter is a popular form of transport. This past June a PHI Air Medical helicopter on the way from Huntsville to Houston crashed in Texas, killing 4: pilot, para medicentre, nurse and patient.
It has been a rash of helicopter crashes in recent years, many of them medical transport craft. It is not yet determined whether a single factor was responsible. But medical air via helicopter has become increasingly popular because of the increased speed possible for the realization of a critical patient in the hospital for land ambulance. That said, some jurisdictions have questioned the need for air-bridge for patients who are not all that critical, and for whom land transport would be appropriate. And yet another push to get accident victims to hospitals quickly led to an increase in air ambulance flights. Read more info click here.
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