By The Associated Press

Published: Wednesday, October 10, 2012, 6:52 a.m.
Updated: Wednesday, October 10, 2012

TOBYHANNA — A small helicopter crashed in a wooded area of northeastern Pennsylvania after the crew apparently got lost in bad weather on the way back from a golf outing, killing two people onboard and severely injuring a third, authorities said Wednesday.

Investigators believe the chopper went down sometime around 8 p.m. Tuesday in Coolbaugh Township, about 90 miles north of Philadelphia. That prompted an extensive search, and a Pocono Mountain Regional Police officer eventually found the wreckage in woods off Interstate 380 around 2 a.m. Wednesday, the Pocono Record of Stroudsburg reported.

Monroe County Coroner Bob Allen told the newspaper two people onboard were confirmed dead at the scene. A third person, who was a backseat passenger, was seriously hurt and being treated at a hospital.

The surviving passenger had called for help on a cellphone, investigators said, enabling authorities to find the crash site, where the red aircraft was found torn apart.

The aircraft was registered to ACS Helicopters LLC in Far Hills, N.J., and based out of the Somerset Airport in Somerville, N.J., officials said. The group had been returning from a golf outing in Elmira, N.Y., police said. They got lost in bad weather and were attempting to land at Pocono Mountains Municipal Airport at the time of the crash.

Conditions were foggy at the time, the National Weather Service said, and visibility would have been between a quarter-mile and a half-mile.

The Federal Aviation Administration was investigating. The victims' names have not been released.

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