Mom: Helicopter Crash's Sole Survivor Distraught

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The mother of the lone survivor of a New Mexico helicopter crash that killed five people, including a Zimbabwe opposition leader, says her daughter is distraught.

3 p.m.

Her voice breaking, Martha Cobb told The Associated Press on Thursday that her 39-year-old daughter, Andra, said she escaped the helicopter and passed at least one body on the ground before it burst into flames.

The co-pilot was Andra Cobb's father, Paul, and her longtime partner, Charles Burnett III, a wealthy Houston-based businessman, also died Wednesday. Andra Cobb was hospitalized with broken bones.

Martha Cobb says she and her husband befriended Zimbabwe opposition leader Roy Bennett and his wife while traveling on cruises.

Friends say the group was heading to the Emery Gap Ranch, a sprawling, mountainous property that Burnett purchased in 2017.
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2:50 p.m.

Friends say Zimbabwe opposition leader Roy Bennett and his wife, Heather, were in New Mexico on holiday when they and three others were killed in a helicopter crash.

They were visiting friend Charles Burnett III, a wealthy Houston-based businessman who also was killed in Wednesday's crash in a remote area near the Colorado state line.

Also killed were pilots Jamie Coleman Dodd of Colorado and Paul Cobb of Texas. They too were friends with Burnett.

Burnett's lawyer, Martyn Hill, said the sole survivor, Andra Cobb, was in a long-term relationship with Burnett and was Paul's daughter.

The group was heading to the Emery Gap Ranch, a sprawling, mountainous property that was purchased by Burnett in 2017.

Hill says both pilots were experienced aviators who would not have taken unnecessary risks in the helicopter. Hill said Paul Cobb served in Vietnam and survived being shot down.
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1:30 p.m.

Authorities in the U.S. state of New Mexico say a victim injured in a helicopter crash that killed five others, including a Zimbabwe opposition leader, called for help.

State Police Lt. Elizabeth Armijo confirmed opposition leader Roy Bennett's death Thursday, a day after a helicopter carrying him and five others went down in a remote area.

A spokesman for Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party says Bennett's wife also died.

Police say others killed were pilot Jamie Coleman Dodd, of Trinidad, Colorado; co-pilot Paul Cobb, of Conroe, Texas; and Charles Ryland Burnett, of Houston.

Cobb's wife, Martha Cobb, tells The Associated Press that her 39-year-old daughter, Andra, was hospitalized with several broken bones.

Cobb says her daughter described escaping the helicopter before it burst into flames.
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12:19 p.m.

Authorities in the U.S. state of New Mexico say key Zimbabwean opposition leader Roy Bennett has been killed in a helicopter crash.

State Police Lt. Elizabeth Armijo confirmed Bennett's death Thursday, a day after a helicopter carrying him and five others went down in a mountainous rural area of northern New Mexico.

Obert Gutu, spokesman for the MDC-T opposition party, said the loss of Bennett, a white man who spoke fluent Shona and drew the wrath of former President Robert Mugabe, was tragic. Gutu says Bennett's wife, Heather, also died.

The crash killed five and injured a sixth person aboard. The helicopter went down about 6 p.m. Wednesday near the Colorado state line.

Armijo said no additional information was immediately available about the circumstances of the crash.

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