Teen survives night after fatal helicopter crash

updated 7:13 p.m. ET April 16, 2008

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A 14-year-old boy survived a frigid night in the wreckage of a helicopter crash that killed his stepfather and three other people and was recuperating at a hospital Wednesday, state troopers said.

The B2 Arrow Star 350 went down in heavy snow Tuesday west of Sheep Mountain, about 120 miles northeast of Anchorage. Bad weather prevented a search by air Tuesday, but a rescuer in a helicopter spotted the wreckage shortly before 8 a.m. Wednesday.

Air National Guard jumpers helped stabilize the survivor, Quinn Ellington, and he was taken to Mat-Su Regional Hospital. He was not reported to have life-threatening injuries, said State Trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters.

The downed helicopter was carrying state technicians working on radio site maintenance, said Jim La Belle, regional director of the National Transportation Safety Board.

The State Patrol identified the dead as the pilot, Benoit Pin, 39, of Anchorage; and passengers Thomas E. Middleton, 46, of Anchorage; Joseph C. O'Donnell, 48, of Girdwood; and Ellington's stepfather, Michael D. Seward, 37, of Palmer.

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