Three Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) employees have been killed in a helicopter crash while conducting aerial surveys for desert bighorn sheep in the south-western part of the state, according to officials.
The crash happened on Saturday in the remote wilderness of Black Gap Wildlife Management Area, which is adjacent to Big Bend National Park, on the Rio Grande that marks the border with Mexico.
The victims of the crash were identified as wildlife biologist Dewey Stockbridge, fish and wildlife technician Brandon White, and state wildlife veterinarian Bob Dittmar, according to the TPWD.
Officials said the pilot survived the crash and was taken to El Paso, the most westerly city in Texas, on the border with New Mexico, for further treatment, and the patient’s condition is currently not public.
“No words can begin to express the depth of sadness we feel for the loss of our colleagues in this tragic accident,” said Carter Smith, TPWD executive director, in a statement.
Smith said they were “highly regarded … for the immense passion, dedication, and expertise they brought to their important work in wildlife management and veterinary medicine” and that they were carrying out “their calling to help survey, monitor and protect the bighorns of their beloved west Texas mountains”.
The Texas governor, Greg Abbott, asked Texans to pray for the families of the victims of the crash, adding as part of a statement that “our hearts ache today”.
Details of the crash are so far limited and an official investigation by the authorities is underway, according to local media reports.
Desert bighorn sheep are carefully studied in the wildlife management area. They were a ubiquitous native animal in previous times and were successfully reintroduced after being hunted out by the 1960s for their meat and to reduce competition with farmed sheep.
