ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- An Army National Guard helicopter crashed on Alaska's Knik Glacier during a rescue attempt to pick up five people stranded after a plane crash, officials said.
Guard spokesman Maj. Guy Hayes said the helicopter's three-member crew wasn't injured in the crash Tuesday, while two of the original plane crash survivors reported minor injuries, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
By Tuesday night, the military said three of the five victims from Sunday's plane crash were rescued, and another helicopter was sent to pick up the other two.
Nine people, including the seven Guardsmen, were on the glacier Tuesday night. Hayes said a supply drop was made with provisions that could last about a week.
Inclement weather Monday hampered the Knik Glacier rescuers, who were redirected to the Dillingham area after an airplane crashed there Monday, killing five, including former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, Hayes said.
Severe weather early Tuesday thwarted several rescue attempts by an Alaska State Troopers helicopter, AST spokeswoman Beth Ipsen said.
"There was a report of white-out conditions," Ipsen said. "Freezing rain, white-out conditions and snow."
The downed Black Hawk helicopter, one of two dispatched to Knik Glacier, "slid and rolled over" while trying to land, leaving the multimillion dollar aircraft "heavily damaged," Hayes said, adding that authorities would investigate.
The second Black Hawk reported the accident and returned to Fort Richardson, the Daily News said.
"We're still doing exactly what we've been trying to do," Hayes said. "They're just going to wait for that weather opening and try to get in there and pull everybody off."
