TERRA ALTA, W.Va. — Investigators with the West Virginia State Police say the two people injured in a Friday helicopter crash in near Terra Alta in Preston County suffered minor injuries.
Troopers released more information Saturday morning following the Friday crash that took place at around 11:20 a.m. on Caddell Mountain.
State police were first on the scene. Troopers were able to remove one of the workers from the wreckage but had to wait on help to get the other worker out.
“The occupants were then transported to Ruby Memorial and treated for minor injuries,” a Saturday morning news release from the state police said.
State police did not release the names of the injured.
First Energy confirmed Friday the helicopter belonged to GeoDigital, an out-of-state company that was doing contracting work for FirstEnergy.
“The helicopter crew members involved in today’s accident were contracted by FirstEnergy to complete inspections of the company’s transmission lines,” FirstEnergy spokesperson Hannah Catlett said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with those who were injured and their families.”
State police said troopers couldn’t determine what caused the crash and turned over the scene to investigators with the Federal Aviation Administration.
The crash scene was close to the West Virginia National Guard’s Camp Dawson facility and there was initial concern a military helicopter may have crashed but the National Guard was able to quickly confirm the helicopter did not belong to the Guard.
“We were able to confirm within 10 minutes that it was not a military aircraft that went down,” Guard spokesperson Sgt. Zoe Morris told MetroNews.