Late Saturday night, an Alaska State Trooper helicopter dispatched after the troopers received a report of a stranded and possibly injured snowmachiner near Larson Lake in the vicinity of Talkeetna.

After picking up a trooper, the helicopter proceeded to the lake, and at 9:58 pm, located the stranded snowmachiner. At 11:17 pm, the helicopter reported that it was headed back to Sunshine Tesoro.

The helicopter never reached its destination.

The FAA reported the overdue helicopter to the Alaska Air National Guard Rescue Coordination Center at about 1 am early Sunday morning. Weather and a mandatory rest period for the rescue crew prohibited a search attempt until 5 am later in the morning.

At about 9:30 am on Sunday, an Air National Guard helicopter located the wreckage of the Eurocopter AS350 south of Larson Lake. They did not see any signs of survivors of the crash. Aborad was the pilot, a state trooper and the snowmachiner.

The names of the crash victims have not yet been released.