Coast Guard helicopter crashes in Utah mountains
 

AP


SALT LAKE CITY – Rescue crews have reached a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter that crashed Wednesday morning in remote Utah mountains as it flew toward its home base after providing security for the Olympics in Vancouver.

Officials said two crew members reportedly suffered serious injuries, one had minor injuries and two others on board were not hurt.

Sgt. Jeremy Hale of the Wasatch County sheriff's department said a second Coast Guard helicopter in the area landed at the crash site and airlifted two victims. Search-and-rescue crews have reached the scene and are assessing the other crew members' medical conditions, Hale said.

The helicopter went down in a remote, snow-covered area accessible only by snowmobile, Hale said.

The Coast Guard crew was en route to its home base in Elizabeth City, N.C., according to Dan Dewell, a spokesman for the Coast Guard's 11th District in Alameda, Calif.

The helicopter made a refueling stop in Salt Lake City and was en route to Leadville, Colo., when it crashed. The co-pilot used a cell phone to report the crash to another Coast Guard helicopter that it was flying with, Dewell said.

Dewell said Coast Guard officials didn't have any information about why the helicopter may have gone down.