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(AP) - Officials say the company that operated a medical helicopter that crashed near an Oklahoma City nursing home and killed two people had recently undergone an exhaustive accreditation process.
The helicopter crashed Friday after taking off from Integris-Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City for a flight to pick up a patient in Watonga, about 70 miles away.
Integris' president, Bruce Lawrence, told employees in an email that pilot Mark Montgomery and flight nurse Chris Denning were killed, and paramedic Billy Wynn was hospitalized in critical condition.
The helicopter was operated by Wichita, Kan.-based Eagle Med LLC.
Eileen Frazer, the executive director of the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Services, says EagleMed had just received its three-year accreditation. That included an analysis of maintenance records of all its aircraft and crew.
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Authorities say a medical helicopter has crashed in Oklahoma City, killing two people and injuring a third.
Authorities told The Oklahoman newspaper that the crash happened Friday morning near the St. Ann Nursing Home in northwest Oklahoma City.
Emergency Medical Services Authority spokeswoman Lara O'Leary says no one on the ground was seriously hurt or killed and that the person taken to OU Medical Center was believed to be on the helicopter with those killed.
She says the helicopter belonged to Kansas-based company EagleMed.
A large storm system has blanketed much of the Midwest and Plains in snow, but it wasn't immediately clear if authorities believe weather played a role in the crash.