NZ trio feared dead in copter

By Mathew Dearnaley

Ground searchers were heading early today for a helicopter wreck in which three young New Zealand men were believed killed while rounding up sheep on a rugged Mexican island.

Charred remnants of the Hughes 500 helicopter were spotted yesterday from the air, sprawled over a steep hillside on Tiburon Island in the northwestern Gulf of California, but nightfall hampered the ground search.

There was little hope that any of the three, all aged in their 20s and involved in a wild sheep conservation programme, were alive after having been reported missing on Sunday.

On board were Greymouth pilot Adam Trevor, aged 28, Canterbury deer-recovery specialist Dan Innes, 26, and Wairarapa turf management graduate Mark Williams, 25.

The single-engine helicopter is understood to have been owned or leased by Mr Innes' expatriate pilot father, James Innes, who flew from his home in Salt Lake City yesterday to join the search.

Mr Innes sen said on television that he suspected sabotage, claiming there had been "a lot of skulduggery down here" in what is a highly competitive industry.

"Other companies in the industry are very jealous of what we are doing," he said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Wellington said it had heard nothing to suggest foul play and was waiting for the Mexican Ministry of Civil Aviation to get to the crash site.

A business associate of James Innes at Western Slope Helicopters in Colorado, Ed Tracey, described him as a pioneer who had cornered the market in wildlife-recovery operations for various North American agencies.

The Innes family had a contract with the Mexican Government to capture bighorn sheep for possible sale to the United States, where there were many programmes to re-populate areas the sheep had once roamed.

What began as one of the first deer-recovery operations in the South Island, more than 25 years ago, was now in strong demand among American conservators for rounding up anything from wolves to bison and antelope.

Mr Tracey said Tiburon, which is a special biosphere reserve with few people but many species of reptiles and other wildlife, was very rugged, with many sheer rock faces.

Mr Trevor, who had been flying for 10 years, joined the team about two months ago and Mr Williams was on a working holiday before returning to New Zealand from a job at a Kentucky golf course.

He was filling in for an older brother, Tim, who has worked for the Innes family for about four years but was taking a break on his parents' deer farm near Masterton.

Mark Williams' twin, Angela, and brother Tim are due to fly to Mexico today to bring their brother's body back to New Zealand.

Mr Trevor's father, Tom, also a deer-recovery pilot, said his son had operated helicopters since gaining his flying licence at 18.