Six dead in West Virginia chopper crash

·1-min read

Six people have been killed when a helicopter crashed in West Virginia, authorities say.

The Vietnam-era helicopter was based at the Logan airport and used for tourism flights, Ray Bryant, chief of operations for Logan County's office of emergency management, told WSAZ-TV.

All six on board were killed, the office's deputy director, Sonya Porter, told ABC News affiliate WCHS.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the Bell UH-1B helicopter crashed near Route 17 in Logan County around 5pm on Wednesday.

Bobbi Childs, who lives nearby, saw smoke and flames and got close enough to see a man who was trapped.

"I saw that there was a guy trapped, I guess the captain. I tried to get down to the door where he was at. You could see him plain as day. I tried to get to him, but the fire was too hot. I couldn't get to him," Childs told WOWK-TV.

Bryant said the helicopter was on fire when crews arrived, and firefighters extinguished the flames.

"The cockpit of the aircraft is burned up," Bryant told WOWK-TV. "The tail boom is laying across the road. It is recognisable, we knew it was a local helicopter."

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.

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