HELICOPTER CRASH:

Four Hydro One employees are dead after their aircraft goes down outside Tweed

Four Hydro One employees were killed in a helicopter crash in eastern Ontario, police and the utility reported.

No one survived the crash that occurred just before noon on Thursday outside Tweed, north of Kingston, provincial police said.

Kim Clayton, who lives near the crash site, said Hydro crews had been working for weeks on the power lines strung on the towers that cross the property, and she was used to hearing them fly back and forth. Clayton said there was no indication of any trouble until a loud crash shook the house. She scrambled to a window, where she said she saw part of the chopper in the trees that surround an open field. Other hydro crew members were running around.

“My heart started pounding in my chest,” said Clayton, 45, who moved onto the property just six weeks ago. “I was in panic mode.”

She said she heard workers yelling that a helicopter had crashed and to call 911. Initially Clayton didn’t think the situation was that bad but then she said she feared for the worst when she saw ambulances turn away without transporting any of the chopper’s crew.

“I then said to myself, ‘They’re not coming out of this’.”

The helicopter was apparently heading for a landing, Clayton said, adding she was relieved it didn’t hit anyone on the ground or her horses, which were on the other side of the field. Clayton, whose husband was away and children in school, said she choked up when the orange tape started going up and she realized just how bad it was. “They have families, it’s almost Christmas time,” Clayton said. “I still can’t believe four guys died on this property today and it’s sad.”

In a statement, Hydro One expressed its condolences to the victims’ families. “We are deeply saddened to confirm that an incident involving one of our helicopter aircraft occurred in the Tweed area and has resulted in four fatalities,” Hydro One said. It said names would not be released just yet. A spokesman for the Transportation Safety Board said a team of investigators was en route to the crash site. The chopper was a 1999 AS350 B2, often used for corporate purposes.