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Man survives NM crash after cold night on mountain
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SANTA FE, N.M. – Black Hawk helicopters airlifted searchers Thursday as close as they could to the wreckage of a state police helicopter, looking for two people still missing from that crash on a 12,000-foot mountain near Santa Fe.
Rescue efforts were hampered by snow, low clouds and wind Wednesday, but the weather broke Thursday.
The state police helicopter had rescued a stranded hiker, University of New Mexico physics graduate student Negumi Yamamoto, shortly before it crashed on the mountain Tuesday night. Also aboard were the pilot, state police Sgt. Andy Tingwall, and a spotter, state police officer Wesley Cox.
On Wednesday, Cox, badly injured, hiked from the wreckage to seek help. He walked less than a mile before finding help and was rushed to a hospital with severe hypothermia. Authorities spent the day searching the mountains near the crash for signs of the still-missing pilot and the hiker.
The helicopter had been summoned to help the hiker after she became separated from her boyfriend on the mountain.
Officials feared Yamamoto did not survive. Cox told police when he went back to the helicopter, checked the hiker's vital signs and concluded that she died from injuries in the crash.
When asked about Tingwall's condition Wednesday, State Police Chief Faron Segotta said: "We're being optimistic."
Late Wednesday, two crews located the helicopter's fuselage and other debris that had been scattered down the mountainside, but there was still no sign of Tingwall or Yamamoto. The chief said the debris field stretched about 800 feet in steep terrain.
The crash happened northeast of Baldy peak, in the Santa Fe Mountains, at about 12,000 feet, officials said. A crew of 18 people hiked through the night in an effort to reach the lower end of the debris field.
Segotta said information about the crash and details of the frightening night on the mountain came from Cox, 29, who remained hospitalized with a back injury, possibly a fracture, and a "seriously crushed" right leg, according to the chief. He also said Cox has some internal bleeding.
Tingwall, of Santa Fe, had radioed in his last radio transmission Tuesday night that he had hit the mountain.
Segotta said three campers near Lake Stewart saw the helicopter take off and fly around the north side of the mountain, then heard its rotors rev to a high pitch. They then saw a flash of light and heard the crash, he said.
The helicopter may have crashed into the mountainside after the tail rotor hit something and subsequently failed to gain enough altitude to negotiate a safe landing, he said.
The fact that Cox and Tingwall called out to each other through the night was encouraging news that indicates there's a slim chance the pilot could still be alive, Segotta said.
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SANTA FE, N.M. – Black Hawk helicopters airlifted searchers Thursday as close as they could to the wreckage of a state police helicopter, looking for two people still missing from that crash on a 12,000-foot mountain near Santa Fe.
Rescue efforts were hampered by snow, low clouds and wind Wednesday, but the weather broke Thursday.
The state police helicopter had rescued a stranded hiker, University of New Mexico physics graduate student Negumi Yamamoto, shortly before it crashed on the mountain Tuesday night. Also aboard were the pilot, state police Sgt. Andy Tingwall, and a spotter, state police officer Wesley Cox.
On Wednesday, Cox, badly injured, hiked from the wreckage to seek help. He walked less than a mile before finding help and was rushed to a hospital with severe hypothermia. Authorities spent the day searching the mountains near the crash for signs of the still-missing pilot and the hiker.
The helicopter had been summoned to help the hiker after she became separated from her boyfriend on the mountain.
Officials feared Yamamoto did not survive. Cox told police when he went back to the helicopter, checked the hiker's vital signs and concluded that she died from injuries in the crash.
When asked about Tingwall's condition Wednesday, State Police Chief Faron Segotta said: "We're being optimistic."
Late Wednesday, two crews located the helicopter's fuselage and other debris that had been scattered down the mountainside, but there was still no sign of Tingwall or Yamamoto. The chief said the debris field stretched about 800 feet in steep terrain.
The crash happened northeast of Baldy peak, in the Santa Fe Mountains, at about 12,000 feet, officials said. A crew of 18 people hiked through the night in an effort to reach the lower end of the debris field.
Segotta said information about the crash and details of the frightening night on the mountain came from Cox, 29, who remained hospitalized with a back injury, possibly a fracture, and a "seriously crushed" right leg, according to the chief. He also said Cox has some internal bleeding.
Tingwall, of Santa Fe, had radioed in his last radio transmission Tuesday night that he had hit the mountain.
Segotta said three campers near Lake Stewart saw the helicopter take off and fly around the north side of the mountain, then heard its rotors rev to a high pitch. They then saw a flash of light and heard the crash, he said.
The helicopter may have crashed into the mountainside after the tail rotor hit something and subsequently failed to gain enough altitude to negotiate a safe landing, he said.
The fact that Cox and Tingwall called out to each other through the night was encouraging news that indicates there's a slim chance the pilot could still be alive, Segotta said.
