Helicopter crash

NOXEN, Pa. — Severe thunderstorms and heavy fog were reported around the time a helicopter crashed in northeastern Pennsylvania on Saturday, killing all five people on board, including a child, officials said Monday.

Search and rescue crews scouring the rugged, wooded area where the helicopter crashed on Saturday night encountered heavy fog, National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Peter Knudson said.

Early indications are that the helicopter was caught in a thunderstorm, said Loretta Conley, a spokeswoman for the company that owns the craft. A county coroner investigating crash also said strong storms had passed through the region around the time the helicopter went down.

The pilot contacted air traffic controllers around 10:30 p.m. Saturday to report he was losing altitude and would try to return to a nearby airfield, Wyoming County coroner Thomas Kukuchka said Sunday.

"That's when he went off radar," Kukuchka said.

The coroner's office on Monday identified the victims as 58-year-old Bernard Michael Kelly, of Ellicott City, Md.; his 27-year-old daughter, Leanna Mee Kelly, of Savage, Md.; 29-year-old Carl Robert Woodland, of Lovettsville, Va.; his 3-year-old son, Noah Robert McKain Woodland, of Leesburg, Va.; and 30-year-old David Ernest Jenny Jr., of Towson, Md. It didn't say who was piloting the helicopter.

All five died of multiple traumatic injuries when the helicopter crashed near Noxen, a picturesque town of about 1,000 residents.

Knudson said he did not know the reason for the flight.

The wreckage was heavily fragmented but there was no fire after the crash, Knudson said. The aircraft was equipped with a device that records engine parameters for maintenance purposes, and that will be examined in Washington for clues as to the cause of the crash.