Andra Cobb was frantic when she called for help, telling an emergency operator that a helicopter she was riding in with her father, longtime partner and others had crashed in a remote part of New Mexico and that she was watching her "family burn."
This image taken from video shows an investigator photographing the scene near Raton, N.M., Friday, Jan. 19, 2018, where a helicopter crashed late Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. (AP Photo/Peter Banda)
Police released 911 recordings Friday from the crash near the Colorado-New Mexico line that killed five people, including Zimbabwean opposition leader Roy Bennett, and his wife, Heather. Cobb, 39, was the sole survivor, escaping with broken bones before the helicopter burst into flames.
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Andra Cobb was frantic when she called for help, telling an emergency operator that a helicopter she was riding in with her father, longtime partner and others had crashed in a remote part of New Mexico and that she was watching her "family burn."
Police released 911 recordings Friday from the crash near the Colorado-New Mexico line that killed five people, including Zimbabwean opposition leader Roy Bennett, and his wife, Heather. Cobb, 39, was the sole survivor, escaping with broken bones before the helicopter burst into flames.
"I'm watching my family burn in a fire," Andra Cobb screamed on the call. "I don't know what to do. There's a big fire. I'm covered in gasoline."
Bennett's death was met with an outpouring of grief in Zimbabwe. A white man who spoke fluent Shona and drew the wrath of former President Robert Mugabe, Bennett had won a devoted following of black Zimbabweans for passionately advocating political change.
Burnett's friends Dodd and Cobb were experienced aviators who would not have taken unnecessary risks in the helicopter, according to the investor's personal lawyer, Martyn Hill. Hill and Cobb's wife, Martha, said the co-pilot had survived being shot down while flying a helicopter in the Vietnam War.
Two victims were found in the helicopter, and a third was found several feet away, he said.
Dodd said on his call that he had a broken pelvis and was trying to move away from the blaze. Andra Cobb also told a 911 operator that Dodd was "rolling away from the fire the best he can."
Her father, Paul Cobb, the co-pilot, and her longtime partner, Charles Burnett III, a Texas-based investor who owned the ranch where the group of friends was headed, also were killed in the crash Wednesday, along with pilot Jamie Coleman Dodd.
This image taken from video shows the scorched earth in a remote area near Raton, N.M., Friday, Jan. 19, 2018, where a helicopter crashed late Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018.(AP Photo/Peter Banda)
"I'm watching my family burn in a fire," Andra Cobb screamed on the call. "I don't know what to do. There's a big fire. I'm covered in gasoline."
Dodd also called 911 before he later died. He told authorities immediately after the crash that there were three victims and three survivors — him, Andra Cobb and Roy Bennett, who was suffering from a head wound as authorities tried to determine their location.
Officials launched a search but said the response was slow because of the rugged terrain and lack of access. Andra Cobb remained on the call for about an hour as she waited for authorities to arrive.
FILE -- In this Feb. 3, 2010 file photo Roy Bennet, arrives at the High Court in Harare. Zimbabwe is mourning the death of Bennett, a white founding member of the main opposition party, who died Thursday, Jan 18, 2018, in a helicopter crash in the United States. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi, File)
Bennett's death was met with an outpouring of grief in Zimbabwe. A white man who spoke fluent Shona and drew the wrath of former President Robert Mugabe, Bennett had won a devoted following of black Zimbabweans for passionately advocating political change.
Bennett, treasurer-general of the Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change opposition party, previously survived a traumatic year in jail and death threats over his work.
He and his wife had traveled to New Mexico to spend their holiday with their friend Burnett, according to loved ones. The wealthy businessman was described as a fun-loving person who enjoyed entertaining, at times extravagantly.
This frame from video provided by KOAT-TV shows the wreckage of a helicopter that crashed in a mountainous rural area of northern New Mexico, killing five people and seriously injuring the sixth person aboard, a New Mexico State Police spokeswoman said Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018. (KOAT-TV via AP)
Burnett's friends Dodd and Cobb were experienced aviators who would not have taken unnecessary risks in the helicopter, according to the investor's personal lawyer, Martyn Hill. Hill and Cobb's wife, Martha, said the co-pilot had survived being shot down while flying a helicopter in the Vietnam War.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation. Despite frigid temperatures, there was no indication of bad weather that night.
Authorities eventually found the wreckage engulfed in flames, which had sparked a grass fire.
Colfax County Sheriff Rick Sinclair told The Associated Press that he helped search the rugged terrain and that when crews found the wreckage, residents from nearby ranches were working to extinguish the blaze.
This frame from video provided by KOAT-TV shows the wreckage of a helicopter that crashed in a mountainous rural area of northern New Mexico, killing five people and seriously injuring the sixth person aboard, a New Mexico State Police spokeswoman said Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018. (KOAT-TV via AP)
Two victims were found in the helicopter, and a third was found several feet away, he said.
Bennett and Dodd were alive but in critical condition when authorities arrived. One of them was so injured that he rolled some 150 feet (46 meters) to get away from the flames, Sinclair said. The other appeared to have walked an equal distance before collapsing.
"The will to survive from the guy that rolled is incredible because he was smashed up," Sinclair said.
State police say one of the men died at the scene a short time later and the other died en route to the hospital.
FILE - In this Oct. 16, 2009, file photo, shows Senior Zimbabwean MDC opposition official Roy Bennett, left, and his wife Heather, relax at a friends home in Mutare about 200 km east of Harare, Zimbabwe, following his release from prison. A fiery helicopter crash killed Bennett and his wife, while on holiday in a remote part of the U.S. state of New Mexico, authorities said Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018.
Dodd said on his call that he had a broken pelvis and was trying to move away from the blaze. Andra Cobb also told a 911 operator that Dodd was "rolling away from the fire the best he can."
She said the helicopter had been in the air for just three to five minutes after taking off from the airport in the small community of Raton. In the call, she can be heard weeping and telling Bennett to breathe.
"I'm very, very cold," she tells the operator.
This photo provided by the Pasadena (TX) Police Department shows Paul Cobb, former chief of the department and co-pilot of the helicopter that crashed in New Mexico, killing Zimbabwean opposition leader Roy Bennett and his wife Heather. (Pasadena Police Department via AP)