Police divers recovered the body of missing mother Catalina Hernandez from the Pacific after a medical helicopter crashed off Catalina Island, leaving three dead and two hurt.
Officials said Friday that rescuers had pulled the 45-year-old patient from ocean waters off Catalina Island, ending a long hunt for the last person still missing from the wreck.
The medical helicopter went down right after takeoff on Wednesday for reasons that remain unknown. Five people were aboard. Three died. Two were left recovering in a hospital.
The California Post reported that Hernandez was the final victim located after the crash. Police divers brought her body up from the Pacific.
Hernandez was being flown for care after an allergic reaction. Her family said she had eaten something that set it off. Her 20-year-old son rode along to help translate.
He survived. A medic also survived. Both were recovering in the hospital. The male pilot and a female nurse did not.
Sudden losses in the air have hit families hard in other cases too, including when a young passenger died after a medical emergency on a flight bound for Los Angeles.
REACH Air Medical Services operated the flight. The company later confirmed that two of its crew members were among the dead.
Finding Hernandez took a massive effort on the water. The Coast Guard said in a statement that authorities had to search more than 156 square miles over 23 hours before her body was recovered.
That kind of grind is familiar to crews who answer emergency calls and then face the worst possible outcome, much like the toll seen when two helicopter pilots were killed fighting a Utah wildfire.
On Thursday, REACH Air Medical Services shared a mourning statement with The California Post as the search continued and the human cost came into focus.
The company said:
"Today, the entire REACH family is grieving. This has been an incredibly difficult and emotional time for our organization, and our hearts are with everyone affected by this tragedy."
REACH also said its crews “dedicate themselves to helping people on what are often the worst days of their lives,” answer calls “at all hours,” and provide critical care “in moments of crisis,” while adding that “many questions remain” and speaking of “our commitment.”
A memorial service was held on Catalina Island for those lost in the crash. No cause had been publicly pinned down beyond the simple fact that the aircraft crashed right after takeoff.
Air ambulance work already carries serious risk, a point driven home again in coverage of a fatal New Mexico air ambulance crash that left families and investigators searching for answers.
Just weeks before the Catalina Island wreck, a news helicopter went down in Chatsworth while covering a bus collision. That separate crash killed three people, a bystander, a reporter, and a pilot.
Multi-victim crash scenes leave the same hard aftermath for first responders and relatives, whether the call starts on a runway or a highway, as in the case of a Sacramento County crash that killed five passengers.
Here, the known toll stayed stark and limited to what officials and the company put on the record: five people went up, three died, two reached a hospital, and a mother whose family sought emergency help became the last victim pulled from the sea.
When a medevac flight ends in open water, the families who trusted that crew should not be left with silence. The body has been found. The cause still has not.
