Images: Coast Guard Searches For Wreckage Video: Grim Discovery In Waters Off Edmonds

Remains of the three people were found Friday in the large debris field left by the Agusta A109/Mark II twin-engine helicopter when it plunged Thursday night into the sound off Edmonds, about eight miles north of here, said Airlift Northwest, the operator of the aircraft. No patient was aboard the helicopter.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known, authorities said.

The wreckage was found around 1 a.m. Friday, about four hours after the crash. The remains were found when search crews resumed work shortly after daylight.

Airlift Northwest identified the three as pilot Steve Smith, 59, of Whidbey Island, and nurses Erin Reed, 48, and Lois Suzuki, 47, both of Seattle.

Officials at a National Transportation Safety Board briefing on Friday said one body had been recovered. A Coast Guard vessel was using sonar to search for wreckage that sank in about 300 feet of water.

Edmonds police Sgt. Jeff Jones said papers and pieces of the helicopter found about a mile offshore identified the aircraft. The debris field was about a quarter-mile wide and a half-mile long, Jones said.

Airlift Northwest said the helicopter left Harborview Medical Center in Seattle at 9:04 p.m. Thursday bound for its home base at the Arlington airport, about 40 miles north.

The company's dispatcher had contact with the pilot at 9:14 p.m. but was unable to contact the aircraft 10 minutes later, the company said.

An Edmonds-area resident called 911 shortly after 9 p.m. to report having heard a helicopter fly over, Jones said. The caller reported "shortly after that it sounded 'funny' and then they heard an explosion," Jones said.

Weather at the time included areas of fog and mist and some gusty winds.

Airlift Northwest, based in Seattle, provides emergency air transport service for critically ill or injured patients in Washington, Alaska, Montana, Idaho and western Canada.

Ten years ago, an Airlift helicopter crashed near Bainbridge Island, also killing a pilot and two nurses.

The crew was on its way to pick up a woman in labor when the helicopter crashed into Puget Sound in September 1995.