Helicopter crashes in Bass Lake, woman dead

BASS LAKE, Ind. – Crews on Monday found the wreckage from a helicopter that crashed into Bass Lake in northern Indiana, killing one woman who was aboard.\nDivers were also looking for the body of a second person aboard the craft that crashed Sunday night in the southern Starke County lake, said Gene Davis, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.\nThe body of a woman that has not yet been positively identified was found soon after the 8:30 p.m. crash. Authorities do not believe she was piloting the helicopter.\nThe pilot might have been a man who owns homes in Illinois and on Bass Lake and frequently flew between the two places, Davis said.\nInvestigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration were also at the lake, along with a team from IDEM to check for fuel leakage, Davis said.\nPete Knutel, who lives at the lake, rushed to his pontoon boat to help while his wife called 911 after the family witnessed the crash. Fireman Jeff Risner arrived and jumped into the boat as Knutel and his daughter cast off.\n“We saw it going under,” said Nichole, 12. “I saw two big lights, then kaboom – it sank into the water.”\nThe would-be rescuers thought they heard two people yelling, but found only one woman in the water. The woman was alive at first but quickly lost consciousness, and Risner tried using CPR to revive her. She was pronounced dead shortly thereafter at Starke Memorial Hospital.\nIn the hours after the crash, a Med Flight helicopter hovered over the lake with a search light to help divers look for survivors. But the search was called off because of the darkness, police said.\nBass Lake is just off U.S. 35, about 40 miles south of South Bend.