JALAPA -- The crash was so muffled early Tuesday morning, most people at the rest area along Interstate 26 thought it was just another wreck on the highway.

But trucker Johnny Williamson knew it was the crash of the medical helicopter he had watched take off less than a minute ago, carrying a woman with a broken leg to a Spartanburg hospital.

The woman, along with three medical workers from the Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, were killed when the helicopter went down.

But in the pre-dawn darkness, no one could find the wreckage. So Williamson scaled a fence and ran through some thick woods toward where the thought the sound came from. "I felt like God was directing me: Keep going left, keep going left," he said.

Nearly an hour later and 1,000 yards away, Williamson found the helicopter and all four on board were dead.

"I've seen a lot of wrecks on the interstate and stuff like that," said Williamson, who has driven trucks for 26 years. "But I've never seen anything like this."

The medical helicopter crashed about 5:40 a.m. on a hiking trail behind a rest area along I-26, Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster said. It was in the air less than a minute, the sheriff said.

Killed were the pilot, 41-year-old Bob Giard, flight nurse 38-year-old Glenda Tessnear and paramedic David S. Bacon, 31, hospital spokeswoman Betsy McMillan said.

"This was a group of folks who risked their lives to save other people's lives," Foster said.

The patient, who was found injured in the median of I-26 at the rest area, was not identified. Coroner James Smith said she was in her 30s and he was trying to contact her family out-of-state.

Nine hours after the crash, what remained of the helicopter was scatted over an area smaller than a football field. Some small debris remained stuck in trees where the chopper went down. Motor parts, wires, fiberglass from the body of the helicopter and an oxygen tank could be seen. A small piece of green metal with an "H" on it peeked out of the white foam firefighters sprayed on the wreckage to make sure it didn't re-ignite.

The incident began around 4:30 a.m. when a state trooper found a woman in the median of I-26 who said she had been hit by an 18-wheeler. Her leg was broken and she had some bruises and scrapes to her chest. Paramedics checked her out, decided she needed to go to a trauma center and called for a helicopter, Foster said.

That isn't unusual in Newberry County, Foster said. Routinely, helicopters are called in when an ambulance might get stuck in rush hour traffic. Also, emergency workers can get patients to the hospital faster by flying and that's critical in trauma cases, the sheriff said.

Why the woman ended up injured in the middle of the interstate median is a mystery. Her injuries appeared to be more likely caused by falling out of a vehicle than being hit by a truck, Foster said.

The trooper didn't talk to her long because she needed medical help, authorities said.

The woman had papers with addresses from South Carolina, North Carolina and Colorado and may have been a hitchhiker or picked up rides from truckers, Foster said.

Deputies talked to witnesses to the incident throughout the afternoon, but had not found the car involved, Foster said.

The helicopter came down in the Sumter National Forest and government bulldozers were used to clear a path to the wreckage, Foster said.

There was no word on what caused the crash, McMillan said. Foster said the fog, which was to the southeast, shouldn't have hampered the helicopter's operation.

Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration were en route to investigate, Foster said.

A Columbia hospital was called first, but foggy weather prevented that helicopter from reaching the rest area. Columbia is about 50 miles to the southeast of the crash site; Spartanburg is about the same distance in the opposite direction.

Grief counselors were available at the Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System to help employees deal with the crash, said Mike Wood, chairman of the hospital's board.

The hospital had started its medical helicopter service just a year ago, he said.

"It's a tragedy," said Wood, who was on his way to Columbia for unrelated business when he heard about the crash. "Words are not able to explain the sense of loss we feel."

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