In brief: One dead after chopper crash

NEW YORK – A helicopter carrying five people on a private tour for a birthday celebration sputtered and crashed into the East River in New York on Tuesday afternoon shortly after takeoff from a riverbank heliport, killing one passenger and injuring three others.

The victim, Sonia Marra, was visiting the city with her family to celebrate her 40th birthday. She apparently was trapped inside as the chopper sank about 50 feet below the surface of the swift-moving water, police said.

Emergency crews arrived within seconds of the crash to find the helicopter upside down in the murky water. The pilot, Paul Dudley, and three passengers were bobbing in the water. The three surviving passengers were pulled from the river shortly after emergency crews arrived on the scene, police spokesman Paul Browne said. All were hospitalized. The pilot was uninjured and swam to shore.

The private chopper apparently had run into trouble and was trying to return to the heliport when it went into the river off 34th Street in midtown Manhattan, a few blocks south of the United Nations headquarters. It’s unclear what happened.

Death toll rises in coal mine blast

BEIJING – The death toll from a coal mine explosion in southwestern China has risen to 17.

The official Xinhua News Agency says 28 miners were in the shaft when the blast occurred Tuesday in Guizhou province. Eleven were rescued and being treated in a hospital.

Initial reports said 13 miners had died, but three rescued workers later died in a hospital and another body was recovered from the shafts this morning, bringing the toll to 17.

Xinhua did not give a cause for the blast.

Prime minister named in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – The long wait for Haiti to find a prime minister ended Tuesday after its Senate approved Garry Conille to run the government, hopefully jump-starting stalled earthquake reconstruction efforts.

President Michel Martelly’s two previous nominees for the post had been rejected by lawmakers.

Senators voted 17-3 with nine abstentions for Conille. Conille had worked for the U.N. since 1999 in countries such as Haiti, Ethiopia, and, for a few months this summer, in Niger.

Powerball winner credits mix-up

ATLANTA – Georgia Lottery officials say a store clerk’s mistake led to a $25 million win for a woman who has been searching for a job.

The lottery says 44-year-old Kathy Scruggs matched all of the winning numbers in the Sept. 14 multistate Powerball drawing. She said she had requested a Mega Millions ticket but wound up with that and the Powerball ticket and accepted both of them.

Scruggs said she selected the cash option and will receive $15,124,017 before taxes.

Scruggs, who’s been looking for a job after a seasonal job ended last spring, now plans to buy a car, travel, and help her family and others.