KAMIAH, IDAHO -- Three people have been killed in a helicopter crash caused by a mechanical malfunction near Kamiah, Idaho.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game reports that the helicopter, carrying two Fish and Game fisheries biologists and a pilot, went down around 9:30 a.m. The biologists were taking salmon redd counts on the nearby Selway River at the time of the crash.

Eyewitness Robert Millage said that two died in the crash and a third person was taken away by ambulance; Fish and Game said that person was taken to a hospital in Orofino.

Lewis County public information officer Jeanette Dreadfulwater later confirmed the third person had succumbed to their injuries.

Millage said that the helicopter appeared to have some sort of trouble and then lost its tail rotor. At that point pieces of the airframe started coming off and dropping down around town.

Fish and Game reports the helicopter went down near the Fish and Game office in Kamiah.

"I think the pilot may be a hero as he almost fought it to an open field, avoiding homes and the school that was only a few blocks away," Millage said.

Dave Medel with the Clearwater Progress newspaper says the helicopter went down near the intersection of State Highway 64 and State Highway 162, several blocks from Main Street in Kamiah, right across the street from the Looking Glass apartment complex and less than a quarter mile from Kamiah Elementary School.

"The witnesses I recorded said they first heard a loud pop, then they could actually see parts flying off of it," Medel said. "One said he believed he saw the tail rotor separate from it, then it just fell straight down from at least 1,000 feet. One witness said she saw it begin swaying side to side than began diving "really hard and really fast" nose first."

The helicopter belongs to a Clarkston, Washington company that contracts services to Idaho Fish and Game.

Dreadfulwater said the sheriff's office is investigating the crash. She added that officials want people who live in the Kamiah area and find debris from the helicopter to contact the sheriff's office at (208) 937-2447 so they can safely recover that debris.

Two of the victims have been identified as Idaho Fish and Game biologists 47-year-old Larry Barrett and 34-year-old Danielle Schiff. The name of the pilot, who was with the Clarkston, Wash.-based company Leading Edge Aviation, has not been released.

This is the second crash involving Idaho Fish and Game personnel this year. In January two Idaho Fish and Game biologists and a pilot were injured when their Hughes 500 helicopter went down in the Clearwater National Forest.

The last time the Idaho Department of Fish and Game had an aircraft mishap that resulted in fatal injuries was December 2000. A wildlife biologist was killed when his helicopter crashed during a wildlife count in North Idaho.