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A father struggled to keep his daughter “calm” as the helicopter they were riding in fell about 500 feet to the ground in Utah’s Wasatch County earlier this week.
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All four aboard survived, but the young woman, Oakley Tune, suffered a head injury.
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“It’s really my worst nightmare,” Toon’s sister, Bailey Demers, said after learning of the accident.
A father comforted his daughter as the helicopter they were riding in fell about 500 feet to the ground in Utah over the weekend, family said.
All four on board survived but the young woman was airlifted in critical condition.
“I can’t believe it,” Bailey Demers told NBC affiliate KSL after learning her father, Corey Tune, and sister, Oakley Tune, had been killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday, Jan. 18.
“It’s really my worst nightmare,” Demers said.
That Sunday afternoon, at 3:10 p.m. local time, a Bell 206L crashed near a highway in Wasatch County, killing four people, the Federal Aviation Administration confirms to PEOPLE.
Local authorities received a report of the crash and were able to locate the helicopter about 100 yards off State Road 35, the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
“One person suffered serious injuries and was airlifted to hospital by AirMed for treatment of head injuries,” officials said. “The remaining occupants were assessed at the scene.”
The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the ongoing investigation. A spokesman for the agency said the on-scene investigation phase has been completed and a preliminary report is expected next month.
A final report is expected within one to two years.
The crash landing killed Toons and his close friends — the pilot and his wife — KSL reported.
Corey began recording the flight on his cell phone, and the video captured both him and Oakley smiling.
But after the helicopter began spinning out of the pilot’s control, the father dropped his phone while careening to the ground, according to KSL.
The recording continued, and Demars was later able to listen to the audio captured before the helicopter crashed near Wolf Creek Campground.
“The only thing you know about my dad is he’s a rock,” Demers told KSL. “Hearing that he’s coaching my sister through this and keeping her calm, they both think they’re going to die, and he’s keeping her calm.”
Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook
On January 18, a helicopter crashed in Wasatch County, Utah.
At the end of the recording, Demers said she heard Oakley call out to her father, “I’m alive. I’m alive. Dad, are you alive?”
“He fired back and that was music to my ears,” Demers told the outlet. “I was very happy to hear what they were able to talk about.”
Nearby snowmobilers, one of whom was a nurse, saw the plane land and assisted the passengers until first responders arrived.
Corey is currently recovering from a serious chest injury, and his daughter suffered a head injury, KSL reported.
GoFundMe
Oaklee Toone was airlifted to a nearby hospital after the Jan. 18 crash.
Demers credited the pilot with helping to save everyone on board.
All four people are now out of the hospital, which she called “a miracle,” KSL reported. Still, her sister has a long recovery ahead of her, prompting Demers to start a GoFundMe.
“She works tirelessly to provide for herself and this head injury will leave her with no income for some time,” Demers wrote with the fundraiser. “The upcoming cost of her airmed and medical bills is definitely stressful for her.”
As the family recovers, they are grateful to have more time together.
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“The thing you experience when you think you’re going to die is you’re not thinking about your possessions,” Demers told KSL. “You’re thinking about people, your family, your friends, your loved ones.”
He added, “My father expressed that that was going through his mind.”
Read the original article on People
