Helicopter crashes near Murray Bridge
MALCOLM SUTTON
19/11/2008 12:51:00 PM
A HELICOPTER carrying three males has crashed in a paddock outside of Murray Bridge.
The ETSA utility helicopter was running routine maintenance on power lines about 30 metres off the ground before one of the rotors clipped the wire, bringing the helicopter to a shuddering halt.
Eyewitness Shay Thomas Rampol saw it happen from the road.
"I saw a chopper doing maintenance on power lines and then a rotor blade hit one of the lines," she said.
"It flipped in front of me and hit the dust.
"The pilot scrambled out and started looking underneath for the others, but he kept falling down so he must have been in shock."
Hills Murray Local Service Area operations inspector Howard Davies said all three males suffered injuries in the crash, with one being airlifted to Flinders Medical Centre in a serious condition.
He was trapped in the helicopter for more than half an hour before being freed by the State Emergency Service.
The Murray Valley Standard
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