Chopper Crashes, Killing 2 : Accident: Helicopter in fog hits wires before nose-diving into Hollywood Freeway. Two other passengers are critically hurt.

Two people were killed and two were critically injured Saturday when their Bell Jet Ranger helicopter, traveling in pea-soup fog, hit high-tension wires several hundred feet above the Hollywood Freeway and crashed just south of Barham Boulevard, authorities said.

The helicopter’s rotor, separated from the main craft by the wires, flew across the freeway and came to rest beside the northbound lanes, witnesses said, while the body of the helicopter nose-dived into an embankment of ivy on the southbound side.

“They were trying to make it through the Cahuenga Pass in low clouds and they hit the wires,” said Frank King, a Los Angeles Police Department helicopter pilot who was on the scene.

Los Angeles city firefighters used the jaws-of-life to extricate the group from the chopper, said fire spokesman Bob Collis. At least some were dressed in formal wear, although their destination was unknown, said Rhett Brice, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol.

The helicopter was owned by the Wolfe Air Co., based at Burbank Airport, and was flying from Burbank to Los Angeles, according to King.

The identities of the victims--two men and two women--were not immediately available. King said he knew one of the survivors and that she is an employee of an Ontario-based tour company, Aria Tours. He also said that she often accompanies tourists from Burbank Airport to the city.

One survivor was taken to St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, where she was listed in critical condition, and the other, also critical, was taken to Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

The crash, reported at 7:47 p.m., wreaked havoc with traffic for at least a mile when authorities shut down several lanes of the freeway.

Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board were on their way as firefighters sprayed flame retardant onto fuel spilled from the helicopter, whose tail section was resting against a tree.

King thought the high-tension wires at the pass were about 700 feet above the freeway.

“The (Department of Water and Power) does a pretty good job of putting markers on the lines, some of the pilots have told me,” Brice of the CHP said. “But knowing the territory would also be helpful.”

A neighborhood activist said air traffic through the Cahuenga Pass has been a concern among area residents for some time.

“The Cahuenga Pass Property Owners Assn. is in mediation with the FAA to try to force helicopters going through the pass to maintain at least 1,000 feet altitude above the ground because of noise and danger,” said Joan Luchs, the association’s president.

There were no reports of injured motorists, but Brice said that anyone who thinks his car was struck by debris from the helicopter can call the CHP and file a report.

Staff writer Timothy Williams contributed to this report.