Hourly Update

Border Patrol chopper goes down near Three Points

A Border Patrol helicopter crashed this afternoon in the desert west of Tucson, but the agency said everyone aboard had survived. "The pilots are alive and they're currently being taken care of medically," Border Patrol spokeswoman Andrea Zortman said. Zortman wasn't sure how many people were on board, but said the injured had been flown to an unspecified hospital. The crash occurred between 2 and 2:30 pm near milepost 129 on Arizona 86, she said. That's about 20 miles west of Three Points. Zortman said the helicopter went down in the desert. The helicopter apparently crashed on the Tohono O'odham Reservation, but tribal officials said they hadn't been notified about the incident. The cause of the crash wasn't immediately known Wednesday afternoon, nor was the type of helicopter involved, Zortman said. The aircraft was "most likely on a patrol mission" searching for illegal border crossers, she said. Read more in tomorrow's Arizona Daily Star.