EAST ALTON, Ill. -- Two people died when a helicopter crashed into a barge in the Mississippi River near East Alton, Illinois, on Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Cpl. Dallas Thompson of the Missouri State Highway Patrol confirmed that the two inside the aircraft were killed and that there were no other reported injuries. The state patrol said no one was on the barge when the crash happened.

The river has been closed to commercial navigation.

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The helicopter ran into a powerline and crashed around 11 a.m. Thursday on the Mississippi River about a half-mile downriver from the Alton Dam, said Rivers Pointe Fire District Chief Rick Pender.

Fire, emergency medical and law enforcement person

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