Baja California
A Coast Guard helicopter, on a rescue mission to pick up an American heart attack victim in Mexico, crashed while landing early Friday on a remote airfield in Baja California.
The three crew members aboard the H-65 helicopter, Lt. Cmdr. Pat Gregory, Lt. (j.g.) Rod Lubasky and Petty Officer Anthony Juan, were unharmed, but damage to the aircraft was fairly extensive, said Dan Dewell, a spokesman for the Coast Guard in San Diego.
The 44-year-old heart-attack victim was evacuated by a second helicopter and taken to Mercy Hospital, where she was in stable condition Friday.
The helicopter left San Diego on the medical mission about 11:30 p.m. Thursday and arrived shortly before 1 a.m. at the dirt airfield in San Quintin, about 150 miles southeast of San Diego. During the landing, the helicopter toppled over on its left side, Dewell said.
A Coast Guard Falcon jet accompanying the rescue helicopter radioed for help, and a second H-65 helicopter was flown down. While it is not routine for the Coast Guard to perform these medical evacuations, it has been done before, and permission for this operation was granted by the Mexican government, Dewell said.
Naval investigators flew to the site Friday to determine what caused the accident and to bring back the original Coast Guard crew, Dewell said.
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