EAST ALTON, Ill. (BN24) — A helicopter struck high-voltage power lines and crashed into a barge on the Mississippi River on Thursday, killing two workers in a fiery accident that sent thick black smoke into the air and temporarily halted river traffic near East Alton, about 20 miles north of St. Louis.
Officials said the helicopter was performing maintenance work on transmission lines when it clipped the wires, burst into flames, and slammed into a barge on the Missouri side of the river. The crash occurred just before 11 a.m., roughly a half-mile downstream from the Melvin Price Lock and Dam.
The two people onboard the helicopter, both employees of a subcontractor hired by utility company Ameren, were pronounced dead at the scene. Their identities have not yet been released.
“There was a pilot, there was a worker, the helicopter blew up and fell and crashed into that barge,” said witness Adam Briggs, who filmed the burning wreckage from the opposite shore. “It’s exploding right now. They’re dead. They have to be dead.”
Ameren confirmed that the crew was working on tower lighting and marker balls when the crash occurred. “Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences are with the victims’ families and colleagues,” the company said in a statement, adding that it would fully cooperate with the investigation.
Emergency responders from more than a dozen agencies across Illinois and Missouri rushed to the scene. A fireboat from a nearby department and a private tug helped extinguish the blaze. No one was aboard the barge at the time of the crash, and no additional injuries were reported.
The incident prompted the U.S. Coast Guard to close the affected section of the Mississippi River to commercial traffic.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation. The NTSB said an investigator is expected to arrive on Friday. The helicopter involved was an MD 369, a light utility aircraft often used for power line work.
Thursday’s crash is not the first fatal incident involving helicopters servicing utility lines. In 2018, a similar accident in Pennsylvania killed two crew members and injured a pilot.
