Louisiana man dies when helicopter with 5 aboard crashes into river in King Salmon

A Louisiana man died in a helicopter crash near King Salmon on Saturday, Alaska State Troopers said.

A helicopter carrying five people departed from the King Salmon airport and crashed into the Naknek River at about 9:18 a.m., a quarter-mile south of the airport, said Clint Johnson, Alaska chief of the National Transportation Safety Board.

The pilot of the Bell 206B helicopter, more commonly known as a Jet Ranger, was transporting four fishermen to a fishing site, according to the preliminary information from NTSB, Johnson said. The helicopter was operated by Egli Air Haul out of King Salmon, Johnson said.

Weather at the airport was foggy at the time of the crash, with visibility around a quarter of a mile, according to the National Weather Service. The helicopter departed under Special Visual Flight Rules, or SVFR, conditions, Johnson said. Such an authorization allows aircraft to leave the airport in less than favorable weather.

Emergency responders and good Samaritans got the occupants out of the water before authorities arrived, troopers said in an online report.

One passenger — a 73-year-old Louisiana resident named Martin de Laureal — was killed in the crash, troopers said. He was a prominent New Orleans businessman and civic leader who was on a fishing trip to Alaska with friends, according to nola.com.

An NTSB investigator was expected to arrive on site this week to document the scene and examine the aircraft, said Sarah Taylor Sulick, the agency’s spokeswoman. After that, the agency plans to recover the aircraft to a secure facility for further evaluation, she said.