A man from Louisiana was killed in a helicopter crash near King Salmon over the weekend.
Authorities say the Bell 206B helicopter, operated by Egli Air Haul, departed from King Salmon at 9:18 am Saturday with the pilot and four passengers aboard.
The pilot was bringing the passengers to a fishing site when they crashed into Naknek River about a quarter-mile south of the King Salmon Airport.
According to Alaska State Troopers, EMS and good samaritans in the area were able to pull the pilot and three passengers out of the water before troopers arrived.
One passenger, 73-year-old Martin de Laureal, died in the crash. Clint Johnson, Alaska chief of the National Transportation Safety Board, says the four people rescued were okay, but de Laureal became trapped inside the helicopter when it went down.
“The folks sustained minor injuries but unfortunately one was trapped in the wreckage and remained underwater and that was the one that sustained fatal injuries,” Johnson said.
According to nola.com, de Laureal was a retired businessman and civic leader in New Orleans who was in Alaska on a fishing trip with friends.
Johnson said what caused the crash remains under investigation.
“We look at three main areas: man, machine, environment,” he said. “Man being the human portion, the human performance. Machine being the mechanical, and environment being, in this case, weather. All of those things are on the table. No conclusions have been drawn and the NTSB is investigating and we plan on continuing that investigation.”
Johnson said a recovery team will remove the helicopter from the river so investigators can examine it.
A meteorologist has also been assigned to work alongside investigators to determine if weather conditions played a role in the crash.
