5 killed in tourist helicopter crash in Smoky Mountains

sevierville (Tennessee) — A sightseeing helicopter crashed on Monday near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in eastern Tennessee, killing all five people aboard, officials said.

The Bell 206 helicopter crashed about 3:30pm near Sevierville, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said in an email. Officials said the tourist helicopter was destroyed by fire after the crash.

“There’s not much left of the helicopter,” Pigeon Forge Police Chief Jack Baldwin said. “It’s pretty much gone from the fire.”

Baldwin said the helicopter appeared to have come down the side of a mountain and crashed at the foot of it. “There’s a little bit of the tail fin of the helicopter, and that’s about all that’s left, that and the console, that’s about it,” he said.

About four hours after the crash, more than a dozen emergency vehicles were at the site, which is less than almost a kilometre from a large outlet mall in Sevierville and adjacent to a neighbourhood off the main tourist drag. The site is about 5km from Dolly Parton’s Dollywood theme park.

Smoke billowed over the wooded area. The Pigeon Forge Fire Department said it had units at the scene.

Shawn Matern said he was inside his parents’ house when he heard a loud boom. “That’s when we came out and saw the second explosion right before our eyes,” he said. —