WEST ALTON, Ill. – For the past 16 years, Wallace Maier has been taking guests up and down the Mississippi River to search for catfish on charter trips.

Maier was on the water late Thursday morning with five guests, heading back up the river, when they saw a crew working on a transmission line over the Mississippi River. Maier said he’ll never forget what he saw next.

“All of a sudden, it touched the line, and it wasn’t a helicopter anymore. In two seconds, it was a thousand pieces,” Maier said. “All you seen was a fiery ball and it came across and landed on this Missouri-side barge waiting up here to go through the lock.”

Maier called 911 and noticed two transmission lines in the water. It’s believed the people in the helicopter were working to install visibility markers; the orange sp

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