New Mexico State Police personnel climb a rocky mesa to look at the wreckage of a medical transport helicopter that crashed early Thursday morning, July 17, 2014, several miles north of Newkirk, N.M. (AP Photo/M.E. Sprengelmeyer, the Guadalupe County Communicator)NEWKIRK, N.M. – A medical helicopter flying to pick up a patient crashed into the side of a New Mexico hilltop early Thursday, bursting into flames and killing all three crew members on board, authorities said.
The helicopter was flying from Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe to Tucumcari when it disappeared from radar at 2:48 a.m.
It went down near Newkirk along Interstate 40 about 135 miles east of Albuquerque and about 30 miles from Tucumcari.
Ranch workers found the wreckage on the rocky, northern side of a mesa after authorities called and asked them to look around the area.
“It crashed and burned,” said ranch manager Phil Bidegain. “No survivors …. Everything burned except for the very end of the tail.”