EMS Helo Crash

[James Richardson <jimmnn@netbeam.net>]

Three dead in desert crash of air ambulance

ASSOCIATED PRESS

PRIMM, Nev. (AP) - Three people were killed Saturday when a medical 
helicopter they were riding in crashed near the Nevada-California 
line on its way to a traffic accident, authorities said.

The pilot, flight nurse and paramedic died when the Mercy Air Bell 
222 helicopter went down about 4:30 a.m. about 100 yards off 
Interstate 15 about six miles into California, the Federal Aviation 
Administration and Mercy Air said Saturday.

No patients were on the helicopter.

The names of the victims were not immediately released.

The helicopter, based in Pahrump, was en route from Pahrump to a 
traffic accident in Baker, Calif., said Lee Haney, spokeswoman for 
Fontana, Calif.-based Mercy Air.

Haney said no distress call was made from the helicopter.

The National Transportation and Safety Board was investigating the 
crash near Primm, about 40 miles south of Las Vegas, said Jerry 
Snyder, spokesman for the FAA in Los Angeles.

Mercy Air operates 11 helicopters from nine bases between southern 
Nevada and California, Haney said. This was the company's first 
accident since Mercy Air began operations in 1988, she said.

KERO-TV in Bakersfield, Calif., reported that an ambulance on the 
ground headed toward the traffic accident reported the crash.

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