Oregon Public Broadcasting

Idaho Fish and Game Department officials are mourning the deaths of two agency biologists and a helicopter pilot.

They were killed in a crash Tuesday in the north central Idaho town of Kamiah.Authorities identify the biologists as 47-year-old Larry Barrett and 34-year-old Danielle Schiff. The pilot was 43-year-old Perry Krinitt.

Fish and Game spokesman Ed Mitchell says the helicopter was on a trip to count salmon spawning nests in the Selway River. He says the crash has stunned the department.

Ed Mitchell: “The agency has a long tradition as being more a family than a workplace. It’s a real difficult day.”

Mitchell says the aircraft apparently had mechanical trouble. He says witnesses report seeing parts falling from the helicopter before it crashed into a travel trailer.

Mitchell says the agency had rented the helicopter and hired the pilot from a Clarkston, Washington-based company.

Local authorities are investigating the crash.