Helicopter Crashes Into Reservoir in Utah; 3 Die

A helicopter being used by state wildlife authorities to relocate moose clipped a steel cable and crashed into a frozen reservoir near here Thursday, killing all three crew members.

The helicopter apparently clipped a cable used to anchor power line pylons, then plummeted more than 200 feet, crashing on the ice of the Mountain Dell Reservoir, about 10 miles east of Salt Lake City, authorities said. The helicopter was visible, partially submerged under ice and upside down.

The Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Department confirmed all three aboard were killed.

The craft was not hauling any moose when it crashed, authorities said.

The aircraft is owned by Helicopter Capture Services, a company operating out of Marysvale, Utah.

Two of the men were employees of the company. The third was a Utah Department of Public Resources staffer who was filming the moose relocation project. The names of the victims were not immediately released.

A person who answered the phone at Helicopter Capture Services declined to comment and hung up.

The accident occurred as the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources was using the helicopter to rescue moose stuck in the deep snow. It was part of an emergency program intended to save the animals as well as to prevent accidents on nearby Interstate 80.

The agency began the operation after about half a dozen moose were killed by motorists in the area in the last month.

The crew planned to rescue 15 moose Thursday, but only four were moved before the crash. The animals are captured by the helicopter crew throwing nets over them from the air.

“We watch for lines, but sometimes, when trying to get the job done, you just lose sight of them,” said Larry Dalton, the agency’s conservation outreach chief.

According to the helicopter company’s Web site, the company has more than 20 years of experience in the humane capture of many species of wildlife throughout the United States, Canada and New Zealand.