A Bell 206L-3
From
The Times-Picayune
One person died and two others were missing after an offshore service helicopter with five people on board crashed Wednesday in the Gulf of Mexico, the Coast Guard said.
The aircraft from PHI in Lafayette was heading from an offshore platform to Intracoastal City when it crashed in bad weather about 11:15 a.m., 70 miles south of Morgan City, Petty Officer Jonathan McCool said.
The cause for the crash was not known, he said. "We can't speculate at this point," McCool said. "We do know it was raining . .. but that technically does not cause" a helicopter to crash.
The pilot and a passenger are missing. The crew on a nearby supply boat rescued two people, and the boat's captain told the Coast Guard that a third person was dead, McCool said.
None of the people onboard was identified.
The survivors were flown to Terrebonne General Medical Center in Houma by an Acadian Ambulance helicopter. A hospital spokeswoman declined to release their conditions.
The Coast Guard, which was notified of the crash at 11:30 a.m., launched a helicopter from its air station in Belle Chasse and a jet from Mobile, Ala., to search for the missing people. The aviators searched until sundown and planned to resume the search this morning.