Divers Recover 3 Bodies From Wreckage of Helicopter in Strait

CROCKETT, Calif. — Navy divers found three bodies Sunday in a portion of the wreckage of a helicopter that crashed in a strait near the San Pablo Bay.

Five people were aboard the private helicopter, which was surveying residue from an oil spill when it clipped power lines, crashed and sank in about 80 feet of water Saturday in the Carquinez Strait.

Efforts to recover the wreckage were hampered Sunday by muddy water and a rough current that kept divers out of the water much of the day, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Nathan Keel. But when the current slackened, divers from the Navy and Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department were able to search the channel again.

Coast Guard Chief Marshall Berman said the bodies of Coast Guard Lt. Carl Johnson and state Fish and Game environmental specialists Sonia Hamilton and Greg Cook were found. The bodies of pilot Pat Walters and Robert Jean, a contract employee of the oil spill cooperative Clean Bay, have not been recovered.