A helicopter crashed Monday afternoon in northwest Iowa’s Lyon County, leaving the two people aboard seriously hurt.
Lyon County Sheriff Stewart VanderStoep says the privately-owned chopper was being employed as part of a search team — for missing cattle.
Sheriff VanderStoep says, “They apparently called in a helicopter to help search for some of these missing 300 cattle and about 1:19 PM, the helicopter hit a power line and went down — and crashed.”
The crash caused temporary power outages, including the entire city of Rock Rapids.
The helicopter came down in farmland between West Lyon High School and Lake Pahoja.
“Both people in the helicopter had serious injuries and they were transported by ambulances to Sioux Falls hospitals,” VanderStoep says.
The Federal Aviation Administration will help in the investigation. The hundreds of cattle had gotten loose earlier in the day. No names were released.
By Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton