GA - 3 Die in Medical Copter Crash

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Title: 3 Die in Ga. Medical Copter Crash

Author(s): ELLIOTT MINOR, Associated Press Writer

Story Filed: Monday, July 24, 2000 6:34 PM EDT

SUMNER, Ga. (AP) -- A medical helicopter that had just taken a critically ill patient to a hospital crashed in a wooded area Monday, killing all three aboard.

The LifeFlight helicopter had taken a patient from Coffee County in south-central Georgia to a Savannah hospital and was returning when officials lost radio contract with it at 2:30 a.m., said George Ivey, a spokesman for Atlanta-based LifeFlight.

After sunrise, the helicopter was found in a thickly wooded, swampy area next to a cotton field near Sumner in southwest Georgia, he said.

The pilot, a flight nurse and a paramedic were killed.

The helicopter had been heading for its base in Sylvester, about 10 miles from the crash site.

Johnny Howard, 27, who lives less than a quarter mile from the site, said the helicopter flew over his house ``real low.''

``I heard a thump-like noise, but I didn't think anything had happened until this morning,'' he said.

The helicopter was flying in ideal weather and had passed a safety inspection only three days earlier, officials said.

``All operations seemed to be normal,'' said Ralph McDaniel, director of LifeFlight Emergency Medical Service, who added that visibility at the time was nine miles.

``We received from the pilot no indication of a mechanical problem -- no indication of any problem,'' an emotional McDaniel said at a news conference.

All three bodies were recovered and were to be sent to the state crime lab in Moultrie, Tift County Sheriff Gary Vowell said.

The Coffee County patient was suffering from a cerebral hemorrhage and was listed in critical condition Monday at St. Joseph's Hospital in Savannah. Hospital spokeswoman Adrienne Garbe declined to release the patient's name.

Ivey said LifeFlight operates two other helicopters, one in Atlanta and one in Forsyth County, north of Atlanta.

http://library.northernlight.com/EB20000724100000025.html?cb=0&dx=2006&sc=0#doc

-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), July 25, 2000


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