(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Eight people are dead after a helicopter crashed Sunday into a marshy area in the lower southwest portion of Terrebonne Parish, according to Coast Guard officer Jaclyn Young.

There were nine people on board a PHI, Inc. helicopter at the time of the crash, which happened around 3:30 p.m. near Bayou Penchant. One of them was transported to a nearby hospital, while the Coast Guard put on a search for the ninth person. That person was found dead later, raising the death toll in the accident to eight.

Richard Ravinelli, Director of Human Resources for PHI, said the chopper had just taken off from the PHI operating base in Amelia and was heading to an offshore oil platform at the time of the crash. Barbara Bryant's son was among those killed in the accident.


"He has worked since he was young," Bryant said. "He just spent 3 months offshore, just because he wanted to save up enough money for a down payment on his own house, and he's been living with me to save his money to do that."

Bryant says her son has worked on oil rigs for more than three years, but could never get used to boarding helicopters -- the most common way crews get out to the rigs.

"I'm thinking about him being in those marshes out there," Bryant said. "He didn't want to fly anyway. He just took the water survival course for this company for shell the week before Christmas, and said how terrified he was he did that, so that's on my mind.. or that he's out there.

"He didn't make it."

The medevacted passenger, who is a 28-year-old man, is listed as in critical condition and is awaiting to be transferred to Oschner Medical Center from the Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center in Houma. Officials said that because of inclement weather, they are trying to transfer him by ground ambulance.

The U.S. Air Force Rescue Coordination Center in Virginia originally picked up the distress signal from the helicopter and alerted the Coast Guard station in New Orleans, Young said. Shortly thereafter the Coast Guard launched a HH-65C rescue helicopter from New Orleans to the scene of the accident.

According to their website, PHI, Inc. is a helicopter services company that provides transportation to offshore oil and gas, onshore mining, and medical and technical services industries. They are independently owned.

Last year there was an accident involving a PHI helicopter. In June, three PHI crew members and a patient they were transporting died after their helicopter crashed in Texas.

The exact location of the accident, as well as the cause, is not yet known. The Terrebonne Sheriff's Office and Airforce Rescue Coordination Center is assisting in the investigation.

Ravinelli said the names of the victims would not be released until all family members are notified, likely sometime Monday.