xray

Horrified onlookers watched as a helicopter exploded into a ball of flames Tuesday afternoon in a residential neighbourhood of Cranbrook -- killing four, including a pedestrian. Isaiah Otieno, who lives about a block away, was on his way to mail a letter to his parents in Kenya when the chopper crashed into him, said Isaac Hockley, a close friend.
Hockley, 23, said Otieno usually wore headphones while walking, which might explain why he didn't hear the drone of the low-flying aircraft and failed to move out of the way in time.

The 20-year-old international student moved to Cranbrook two years ago to study business at the College of the Rockies.

The town wasn't always kind to him, but Otieno enjoyed living in the Kootenay city, said Hockley. "He's six foot nine, he's black ... it's hard in a redneck town like this," he said.


But Otieno "had a passion for this place and the mountains here." Late Tuesday night, Otieno's death was just starting to ****** across the small community.


"This is going to shock a lot of people," said Shane Berry, manager at Misty's Lounge where Otieno worked as a bouncer until last December. "He was a very friendly person. He had a lot of friends," said Berry.

Also killed in the crash were Big Horn Helicopters pilot Edward William Kyle Heeb, 57; and B.C. Hydro employees Dirk Bentley Rozenboom, 45, and Robert William Lehmann, 37.
Witnesses said the Bell 206 chopper had been circling the area, flying abnormally low, for several minutes before its engine appeared to sputter and lose power.
It crashed near the intersection of 14th Avenue and 10th Street just after 1 p.m., sending flames shooting 30 metres into the air.
Monique Delves said she saw the explosion from her apartment.
"I saw it go down, straight down. It was going straight down."
Elmer Bautz, who lives in a nearby apartment and watched the crash happen from his window, said the pedestrian seemed frozen in his tracks as the helicopter came down.
"He was at the entrance of the alley. I was expecting him to scramble but I think he didn't know what hit him," said Bautz.
Helen Daugherty, who lives in a kitty-corner apartment, said she first thought the plummeting chopper was coming straight at her building.
"The wind started rocking the helicopter and it started coming down and I said, 'Oh my God, it's going to crash!' " she said.
The aircraft was "so close I can see the [pilot's] face," said Daugherty, choking back tears. She said the incident left her badly shaken. "I've never seen anybody die before."
Daugherty said she saw rescuers brave the flames and billowing clouds of black smoke to drag the pedestrian away from the burning wreckage.
"The guy laid there for a while with his feet burning," she said. "It's my worst nightmare."
The crash and explosion were "unreal," said Norm Magee, who was driving in the area when he saw the helicopter take a sudden dive.
When he turned the corner, he saw it burning.
"It was a sheet of flames. It burned the chopper to unidentifiable bits of rubbish. You wouldn't know a plane hit the ground."
Magee said about five or six men dragged a man face-down from the wreckage and tried to smother the flames with the shirts off their backs, but to no avail.
He grabbed a hose from a nearby apartment to douse the flames, but could not find a water tap.
"The flames on the man grew so rapidly we just had to stand there and watch," he said. The man was unresponsive, said Magee, 60.
"I hope he was already dead and we weren't watching him burn."
Police said the names of the victims might be released today, pending notification of kin.
The pilot was a senior pilot with local company Bighorn Helicopters, while the two passengers were B.C. Hydro power-line technicians.
They were on a routine inspection of transmission lines in remote areas outside Cranbrook, said B.C. Hydro spokeswoman Susan Danard.
"They were just about to begin their patrol. They just left the ground," she said.
Danard said the company has been using Bighorn Helicopters for a number of years.
The crash site was near dozens of residential buildings and within blocks of three schools: St. Mary's, Kootenay Orchards and Amy Woodland elementaries.
Kootenay Orchards principal Chris Catherall said 50 to 60 teachers and students were on the school field at the time of the crash.
"I think students and staff saw the helicopter in some kind of distress above the houses," Catherall said. "We had some shaken-up people, for sure."
Bill Yearwood of the Transportation Safety Board said three investigators were on their way to Cranbrook to investigate.
The cause of the crash is not yet known, Yearwood said. "We have to get to the site and start gathering information."
Yearwood called the Bell 206, commonly known as a Jet Ranger, "a workhorse of the industry for about 40 years."
The Bighorn craft was built in the United States in 1974 and registered by the Cranbrook company in 2005.
Cranbrook-based Bighorn Helicopters spokesman Murray Whytle said he would not comment while the crash is being investigated.
He said the company will be co-operating with the Transportation Safety Board's investigation "in every way possible."






Saturday May 17, 2008 - 10:45am (PDT) Permanent Link | 0 Comments

spike

Wow that suck. RIP every one that died.

xray

I know! Buddy was just out strolling to the mailbox and whamo! What are the chances? He could've slept in another 5 minutes and it wouldn't have been him under that helicopter.

usdm

just shows how 80% of the people are blind to their surroundings. How many of you ever look up?

xray

He would've heard the chopper raining down and look up if he wasn't supposely wearing his headphones.

k_r_a_c_k_e_r

iTrader: (3)

Wow.. how ****ty is that?.. walking down the street and boom.. a freaking helicopter hits you

xray

Lawsuit for sure!! Until they investigate what exactly went wrong. Either mechanical or pilot error.

usdm

Exactly my point

In todays world we have to predict danger before it happens 24/7 too much technology out there that can kill us. Imagine the number of people that would be alive today if we had no car and aeroplanes, and some safer alternatives.

xray

Did you hear about the kid that got run over by a freight train here in Toronto b/c he was lying on the tracks listening to his MP3? Can you say brain dead? Well, now he's just dead..