9 firefighters missing in California helicopter crash
SAN FRANCISCO: Nine people are missing and feared dead in a helicopter crash in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said Wednesday.
The crash happened Tuesday night as the helicopter was transporting firefighters battling a wildfire north of Junction City.
An aviation agency spokesman, Ian Gregor, said the helicopter was carrying 11 firefighters and two crew members when it went down. Four people have been taken to the hospital with severe burns, including two in critical condition, according to the Forest Service.
Gregor said the Sikorsky S-61 chopper was destroyed by fire after crashing "under unknown circumstances" in a remote mountain location. Investigators for the agency and for the National Transportation Safety Board were headed to the scene, about 215 miles, or 345 kilometers, northwest of Sacramento.
The nine were presumably killed in the fire that destroyed the helicopter, Gregor said.
The two firefighters airlifted in critical condition were at the UC-Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, a Forest Service spokesman, Mike Odle, said Wednesday. The other two were taken to Mercy Medical Center in Redding in serious condition, he said.
The firefighters had been working at the north end of a fire burning in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, part of a larger complex of blazes that was about 87 percent contained.
Another firefighter assigned to battle the same series of wildfires died late last month when he was hit by a falling tree.
On Tuesday, a Sikorsky S-61  helicopter crashed northwest of Redding, California. The helicopter had been carrying 11 firemen who had been battling a wildfire just north of Junction City, and two crewmen. Eight of the firefighters and one of the crewmen are missing and presumed dead.  
A Sikorsky S-61 similar to the one involved in the crash. 
Four out of the 13 members of the flight were rescued from the crash, though they received severe burns. Sharon Heywood, a United States Forest Service spokesperson said that the three firefighters and pilot had been initially airlifted to Mercy Medical Center in Redding. However, because of the critical condition of two of the firemen and the pilot, the three of them were transferred to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. The remaining firefighter remains at Mercy Medical Center in serious condition.

The helicopter, which is owned by Carson Helicopters, crashed "under unknown circumstances," according to Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The helicopter crashed 35 miles northwest of Redding in the Trinity Alp region, at roughly 7:30 p.m. Tuesday evening, said Gregor. Both the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board investigators were on the scene of the crash.

The firefighters had been fighting flames covering more than 27 square miles in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. They had been working near the north end of the fire, which is reportedly 87% contained.