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Helicopter crash kills 3 near Terrace, B.C.

All three people aboard a helicopter that went down west of Terrace, B.C., died in the crash, according to the company that owns the aircraft.

Peter Schweiler, a spokesman for Bailey Helicopters of Fort St. John, B.C., said all three men aboard the helicopter on a training flight were killed.

The Joint Rescue and Co-ordination Centre in Victoria said it received an automated crash beacon from the helicopter just after 9 a.m. PT.

Search and rescue officials dispatched a Buffalo aircraft and a Cormorant helicopter from 442 Squadron in Comox, along with a local ground crew, to the scene.

The aircraft were able to survey the wreckage but ground crews have not been able to access the crash site due to bad weather conditions and the threat of avalanche.

The helicopter's beacon, which is designed to go off automatically during a crash, reported the site was 14 kilometres west of Terrace on a ridge on the back side of Sleeping Beauty Mountain.

The ASTAR helicopter is a single-engine, five-person aircraft manufactured by Aerospatiale. It is known as an AS350 in Europe.

Bailey Helicopters recently opened a base in Terrace, according to local operators.