State authorities report 3 crew members dead after medical helicopter crashes in western Tenn.

Medical chopper crash in Tenn. kills 3 crew

BROWNSVILLE, Tenn. — A medical helicopter crashed in western Tennessee early Thursday and state officials confirmed three crew members were killed.

Tennessee Emergency Management Agency spokesman Jeremy Heidt in Nashville said the medical flight crashed into a field shortly after 6 a.m. CDT during a rainstorm near Brownsville.

Heidt said the helicopter had flown a patient from Parsons to a Jackson hospital and was returning to its base in Brownsville when it went down. All those aboard were crew members.

Hospital Wing, the company that flies the medical airlifts, didn’t immediately respond to telephone and e-mail messages seeking more details.

The company’s Web site says it flies the Eurocopter Astar AS350B3 model, which is capable of carrying a three-person crew and one patient.

The crash scene is near U.S. 70 and about 55 miles northeast of Memphis.