The National Transportation Safety Board said it will not visit the site of a deadly helicopter crash in Audubon County due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to KCCI in Des Moines, the NTSB said it is taking action to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and is deciding how much on-site investigating needs to be done on a case-by-case basis.

The agency decided not to respond to the accident site but did work with local officials to document the wreckage before it was removed. It will continue to gather information remotely.

Investigators said they believe the chopper hit a power line at around 4:30-p.m. March 31st, causing it to crash and kill two people from Minnesota. The victims were identified as the pilot, 30-year old Ryan Doolittle, of Minneapolis, and a passenger, 23-year-old Benjamin Peterson of Marshall, MN., and originally from Des Moines. Peterson was employed by Western EcoSystem Tech to perform an aerial wildlife survey of raptor nests, when the crash happened.