TELLURIDE, Colo. (AP) — Federal authorities are investigating after a helicopter involved in the search for a missing skier crashed in southwestern Colorado.
San Miguel County Sheriff Bill Masters says the Bell 407 helicopter with three crew members and a sheriff's deputy on board crashed near Lizard Head Pass after it lost power at about noon Saturday. No one was injured in the crash.
The team was looking Robert Blake, of Corrales, New Mexico, who was reported missing after he failed to return from an afternoon of cross-country skiing Friday. Blake's body was found by ground crews at about the same time the helicopter crashed.
Masters says it appears the man died of natural causes.
The helicopter was contracted out of Moab, Utah.