SOUTHLAND : 6 Aboard Rescued as Copter Lands in Sea Between Long Beach, Avalon

A helicopter carrying a pilot and five passengers from Avalon to Long Beach lost power today about 12 1/2 miles from Santa Catalina Island and made an emergency landing in the ocean, Federal Aviation Administration officials said. No one was injured.

All aboard the helicopter were rescued by a passing sailboat and transferred to a U.S. Coast Guard boat, which proceeded to the Coast Guard station at Terminal Island, a Coast Guard spokesman said.

The helicopter, owned by an air taxi service, Island Express Helicopters Inc. of Long Beach, had emergency inflatable pontoons, which allowed the pilot and passengers to remain on board until they were picked up shortly after 11:30 a.m., said a spokesman for the company, Mike Perry, in Avalon.