The National Park Services released a statement this morning regarding the Oct. 3 helicopter crash in North Cascades National Park.

On October 4th, rangers received a report that a leased Robinson 22 helicopter had crashed the day before in a remote area of the park about six miles south of the international border with Canada. Rangers located and interviewed the pilot and passenger, who were uninjured in the crash and had hiked out over 20 miles to the nearest road. After several days of poor weather conditions and some rough off-trail travel, rangers documented the scene with agents from Homeland Security Investigations and assistance from Customs and Border Patrol’s Air and Marine Division. The helicopter was released from the site on Oct. 11th and removed by private contractor to a facility for inspection by the NTSB and FAA. Charges are pending.