Two people died when a helicopter crashed into a barge in the Mississippi River near East Alton, Illinois, north of St. Louis, on Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Cpl. Dallas Thompson of the Missouri State Highway Patrol confirmed that the two people 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 was closed to commercial navigation following the crash.

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.

Video provided to by witness Adam Briggs shows a black plume of smoke rising up from the barge.

Fire, emerge

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