ST. PETERSBURG -- An helicopter ambulance crashed northeast of St. Petersburg just after noon Tuesday, killing all three people aboard.

The helicopter, Bayflite 3, was apparently en route from Bayfront Medical Center in downtown St. Petersburg to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa when it crashed just after hitting a radio station tower near Weedon Island on Tampa Bay.

There was no patient on board.

The victims:

• Mark Wallace, 39, pilot, of Tampa. He had been with the program since St. Joseph's started its program in 1987.
• Alicia Betita-Collins, 51, flight nurse, of Tampa.
• Eric Hangarter, 29, paramedic, of Sarasota. He joined the program a year ago.

More coverage in Wednesday's Times Online.

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