3 dead, 1 injured in National Guard helicopter crash in Texas

A helicopter carrying National Guard members and a Border Patrol agent crashed Friday in south Texas near the border with Mexico, killing three passengers and seriously injuring the fourth, officials said.

The helicopter, which crashed at 2:50 p.m., was a UH-72 Lakota, Joint Task Force North said in a statement. Two of the dead were soldiers, and the third was a Border Patrol agent, the report said.

The helicopter was patrolling the border and tracking people entering the United States illegally when it crashed in an open field, said Eloy Vera, the Starr County judge and the county’s top local official. He said he was notified of the crash around 7:30 p.m. by the county sheriff’s office, which later provided him with more details. There was no one on the ground where the helicopter crashed, Judge Vera said.

The sheriff’s office said in a statement that it assisted with a helicopter crash in eastern Starr County that could have involved four people.

Three of the people on board were men and one was a woman, Judge Vera said, adding that the Border Patrol agent was stationed in Rio Grande City.

Joint Task Force North and Judge Vera said they did not want to share the names of the victims because their families had not been notified.

The Department of Homeland Security, National Guard, Customs and Border Protection and Texas Department of Public Safety did not comment.

This is a development story.

Emily Schmall reporting contributed.