WALNUT GROVE — Three people were killed on impact when a medical helicopter from Vilonia crashed in Walnut Grove, a small community in Van Buren County, Arkansas State Police said.
The helicopter went down just before 4 a.m. Tuesday in the vicinity of 6831 Highway 95 west, smashing into a wooded area beside a clearing and scattering pieces of debris throughout the area.
Click here to see more photos of the helicopter crash. Photos will be added throughout the day.
Air Evac spokesman Julie Heavrin identified those killed as pilot Kenneth Robertson, flight nurse Kenneth Meyer Jr., and flight paramedic Gayla Gregory. There were no survivors and no one on the ground was hurt.
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The FAA was notified early on and will direct the crash investigation, state police spokesman Bill Sadler said.
Royce Johnson, chief of the Walnut Grove Fire Department and the incident commander, said his department alarm went off just before 4 a.m. with firefighters on the scene about eight minutes later. They found "burning wreckage" and immediately began working to see if there were any survivors.
The helicopter was on the way to pick up a patient in Alread when it went down.
"There's a lot of wreckage around here, but we don't know much else at this time," Johnson said.
The debris strewn across the area included one piece that landed on the roof of a small home and a rotor that fell near a playground behind a church.
Yvonne Jackson, who lives just across the street from where the helicopter went down, said she was awakened by a loud noise a little before 4 a.m. She estimated the crash scene was about 100 feet from her home.
"It was not like dynamite, it was like a big inside explosion," she recalled. "Then I got up, went to the front window and heard people screaming down there. It was our neighbors."
Jackson said the deaths and the close proximity of the crash to her home left her shaken. Debris was found on all sides of the structure.
"Naturally, when someone dies it bothers you," she said. "And it could have been right on our house."
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
Map
Crash Area
The FAA was "almost" on the scene around 8:15 a.m., Johnson said. A news conference is scheduled for 5 p.m.
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