Barry Joe is a professional pilot who has flown to the rescue before. But no medical evacuation mission struck as close to home as this one – his own brother had called for help, and injured family members were waiting for him in a remote part of Newfoundland.
Word came in Thursday evening that a small private helicopter had crashed while trying to set down in a heavily treed area near Conne River, Nfld., northwest of the Burin Peninsula. It was carrying four people and all were reported injured.
A federal search-and-rescue crew was dispatched from Gander, but Mr. Joe was closer and lifted off quickly with a nurse and paramedic. His thoughts were in turmoil as they flew through the late evening sky in the same type of helicopter, a twin-rotor Bell 206, as the one that had crashed.
Mr. Joe said Friday he knew from the start that his brother Gary had been at the controls of the downed helicopter. And “it wasn't just my brother, they were all family,” he said in a telephone interview from his home in nearby Milltown, Nfld. Also in the downed helicopter was his sister, his sister-in-law and one other person.
“It was difficult … [but] you try to handle it like any other medevac,” he said.
The scene they found, about 15 kilometres from Conne River, was bad but could have been far worse.
The helicopter had hit the ground upright with its main body largely intact. It came to rest in a clearing, narrowly missing several small cabins and a stone's throw from a pond. The crash left the damaged helicopter sitting across a wooden walkway, most of one main rotor blade snapped off.
“From what we can tell now, the tail rotor struck a tree as it was landing, which caused it to go down fast,” said RCMP Sergeant Wayne Newell.
Everyone aboard was hurt but none of the injuries are life threatening.
Mr. Joe did what he could to help, while staying out of the way as much as possible. “You try to comfort the victims and you let the nurse and the paramedic do their job,” he said.
They were joined by a federal search-and-rescue crew, which arrived in a Canadian Forces Cormorant helicopter and was at the scene for several hours Thursday evening.
“The important part is that the pilot kept a cool head, was able to contact someone and direct them to exactly where they were,” Major Denis McGuire of the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax told The Canadian Press. “It kept the search portion of it to a minimal level so everyone was able to be rescued.”
The Cormorant took most of the wounded directly to St. John's. Mr. Joe flew the worst-injured victim, who was not identified, to a nursing station in nearby St. Alban's; the person was treated there before being transferred to the capital.
The victim remained in hospital Friday.
Mr. Joe said the incident had left him shaken. His voice was weak and halting after a sleepless night. “It's been a rough night and a rough day,” he said.
The crashed helicopter is believed to have been owned by a St. John's-based fisheries company. The excursion was described by police as “sightseeing,” though, and the pilot's connection to the company, which did not return messages Friday, was unknown.
Police were still investigating yesterday afternoon at the remote site. Sgt. Newell said it was not clear whether the Transportation and Safety Board of Canada would become involved.
With a report from The Canadian Press
