___

 

1 p.m.

 

A witness to the aftermath of a deadly tour helicopter crash in the Grand Canyon says at least two of the people on board were women who were badly burned and bleeding. Six passengers and a pilot were on board the Papillion Grand Canyon Helicopters chopper when it crashed under unknown circumstances around 5:20 p.m. Saturday on the Hualapai Nation near Quartermaster Canyon, which is near the Grand Canyon's West Rim and about 60 miles west of Peach Springs. Police Chief Francis E. Bradley of the Hualapai Nation Police Department said in a statement that the accident occurred around 5:20 p.m. local time near Quartermaster Canyon on the Hualapai Nation, a federally recognized Indian reservation in northwestern Arizona. The survivors of the EC-130 helicopter wreck were all "Level One trauma patients," said Bradley, indicating the highest category of injury. The identities and nationalities of the dead and injured weren't immediately released. Bradley says National Transportation Safety Board officials were expected at the crash scene by Sunday afternoon to begin investigating the cause of the crash. The helicopter "sustained substantial damage" when the crash occurred "under unknown circumstances" in the Quartermaster Canyon area of the immense wilderness wonderland on Saturday afternoon, FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer told ABC News. We had to call in specially trained crews – people with night-vision goggles.”

Calls and emails to Nevada-based Papillion for comment on the crash were not immediately returned Sunday. The company says it operates the world's largest fleet of sightseeing aircraft, flying more than 600,000 passengers each year, and that safety is their "top priority." There were six passengers and one pilot on board, reports The Associated Press.
A Papillon Tours helicopter crashes in the Grand Canyon in the Southwestern United States, killing three people and injuring the other four on board. The six passengers were all British citizens.