THREE SURVIVE COPTER CRASH

~Correction: Campbell and Helmers did not suffer broken backs; they suffered lumbar fractures.

LifeBeat flight nurse Paula Crossman couldn't have hugged any harder.

The 46-year-old Troy, Ill., woman felt lucky to be alive. So did the pilot, Robert Campbell, 41, of Cape Girardeau and flight paramedic Robert Helmers, 29, of Chester, Ill.

The three were in a Southeast Missouri Hospital LifeBeat helicopter that crashed shortly after 4 a.m. Wednesday in a swampy, wooded area near the Mississippi River in Union County, Ill.

The pilot and paramedic pulled Crossman from the wreckage. "Then we had a massive, bear hug," Crossman said.

Crossman suffered only bumps and bruises. She spoke to reporters after being treated in the emergency room at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau.

Both the pilot and the paramedic suffered broken backs. They were admitted to the hospital, where they were reported in fair condition Wednesday.

The helicopter crashed two miles west of Illinois Route 3 just south of Ware. The helicopter was found fewer than 300 yards from the Mississippi River. It narrowly missed several trees.

Searchers had to use all-terrain vehicles to reach the site, which was three-fourths of a mile west of the river levee.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the cause.

It was the first crash of a LifeBeat helicopter since the air ambulance service began operating at Southeast eight years ago. The aircraft was leased from St. Louis Helicopter.

In 1988, an Air Evac helicopter from St. Francis Medical Center crashed near the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, killing three people.

Jim Wente, Southeast administrator, said at a news conference at the hospital that a reserve helicopter would be put into operation Thursday.

The helicopter lifted off from Southeast at 4 a.m. to respond to a one-vehicle accident east of Cobden, Ill. At 4:06 a.m., halfway into the 12-minute flight, the pilot radioed that he was returning to the hospital.

Radio contact was lost. At 4:21 a.m., the dispatcher notified authorities, who began a search.

The massive search involved authorities on both sides of the river, including sheriff's departments, fire departments, Illinois State Police and the Missouri Highway Patrol.

The crew was found at 5:20 a.m.

The traffic accident occurred about 3 a.m. on Wing Hill Road. Michael Henard, 20, of Buncombe, Ill., was injured when he lost control of his eastbound vehicle. The vehicle ran off the road and overturned.

Henard was transported by ambulance to a Union County hospital and was later taken to St. Francis Medical Center, where he was reported in satisfactory condition.

Crossman said she didn't know what caused the crash.

She said she had her head down in the crash position when the helicopter smashed into the ground. "I heard a lot of bumps," she said.

The crew found themselves in a muddy swamp. Crossman's flight suit was covered in aircraft fuel.

It was dark outside. The only light they could see was from a passing towboat.

They couldn't contact the dispatcher at Southeast Missouri Hospital because the radio was out.

"We had a compass and two workable flashlights," she said.

The crew members concluded they wouldn't be found in the remote area, so they set out on foot about 4:30, Crossman said.

"All we could think about was letting people know we were OK," she said.

They walked for about an hour when a volunteer fireman spotted them on a gravel road a mile west of Route 3.

One of the rescuers said the three crew members looked like they had just come out of a war zone.

"The fear wasn't there as much as I thought it would be," an exhausted Crossman said hours later.

Crossman, who has more than a decade of experience as a flight nurse with different air ambulance services, doesn't know if she will fly again.

Her husband, Pete, is confident she will. "She's tough," he said. "She'll pull through it."

(Staff writer Chuck Miller provided information for this story.)