Bodies of 4 killed in Alaska helicopter crash are recovered from lake #Bodies #killed #Alaska #helicopter #crash #recovered #lake

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska search and rescue divers recovered the bodies of a helicopter pilot and three scientists on Sunday from the sunken wreckage of their aircraft, which went down in a shallow lake last week on the remote North Slope, authorities said.

The cause of the crash is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The only way to raise the wreckage will be to use another helicopter because it’s in the middle of one of the many lakes scattered across the vast tundra, said Clint Johnson, the chief of the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska region.

CORRECTS MONTH TO JULY INSTEAD OF JUNE - This photo provided by North Slope Borough shows an aerial view of a shallow lake where a helicopter crashed on Alaska's North Slope near Utqiagvik, Alaska, Thursday, July 20, 2023. A North Slope Borough search and rescue team in a helicopter found debris matching the description of the missing helicopter, but officials said no bodies of the pilot or three passengers had been seen or recovered. (North Slope Borough via AP)

A rescue and recovery dive team was deployed Saturday after a helicopter with a pilot and three state workers crashed in a large lake on Alaska’s North Slope,.

Officials say no survivors have been found after a helicopter carrying a pilot and three state workers crashed in a shallow lake in Alaska’s North Slope region.

In this photo provided by Brian Williams, a whale approaches his father, Kevin Williams, while he was paddleboarding in Prince William Sound near Whittier, Alaska, on July 13, 2023. Williams survived the close encounter with a humpback whale, not even getting wet during a tense few seconds caught on camera by friends and family as a whale surfaced near him. (Brian Williams

An Alaska man on a paddleboard escaped a close encounter with a humpback whale that surfaced right in front of him.

FILE - Chunks of ice float in Mendenhall Lake in front of the Mendenhall Glacier on April 29, 2023, in Juneau, Alaska. An Alaska man inadvertently filmed his own drowning on the glacial lake with a GoPro camera mounted on his helmet, but authorities who recovered the camera have not yet found his body, officials said Tuesday, July 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, File)

Authorities say an Alaska man inadvertently filmed his own drowning on a glacial lake with a GoPro camera mounted on his helmet.

“In Alaska, here during the fire season, commercial helicopters are at a premium so we are having challenges getting a helicopter to do the work,” he said Sunday.

The dead were identified by the North Slope Police Department as Ronald Daanen, 51, and Justin Germann, 27, both from Fairbanks; Tori Moore, 26, of South Bend, Indiana; and pilot Bernard “Tony” Higdon, 48, of North Pole, Alaska.

The 1996 Bell 206 helicopter crashed Thursday while transporting the Alaska Department of Natural Resources staff while they conducted fieldwork in the area. They were members of the Division of Geological and Geophysical Survey. The helicopter is owned by Maritime Helicopters.

The wreckage was found near the small coastal town of Wainwright, which is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Utqiagvik — the northernmost city in the U.S., formerly known as Barrow. The flight originated in Utqiagvik and was supposed to return there.

Volunteers from the Alaska Dive Search, Rescue, and Recovery team arrived at the crash site around 10:45 p.m. Saturday and recovered the bodies about 6 a.m. Sunday.

Authorities have said the the aircraft likely will not be raised from the middle of the 1-mile-wide (1.6-kilometer) lake until Monday or Tuesday, given the lack of available helicopters.

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