Helicopter crashes during search; 3 die

TUSCUMBIA - A helicopter crashed in thick woods early yesterday during the search for a missing hunter, killing all three people on board. The cause was under investigation, said Jeff Davis, a manager of Air Evac EMS, a Missouri company that owns the copter. The crash occurred as the aircraft was hovering over the missing man's location, the FAA said. The hunter was rescued with injuries that were not life-threatening. (AP)

PHOENIX - Authorities yesterday found 37 suspected illegal immigrants concealed in a truck, some hiding behind pallets of bell peppers. Police found the immigrants, including five children, while investigating a tip about a tractor-trailer parked in the middle of the road in Tolleson. They initially discovered a dozen people in the truck. Later, an officer noticed the pallets did not go all the way to the back of the semitrailer. (AP)

OAK FOREST - An apartment building fire killed three people, and authorities said yesterday that they were investigating the blaze as a possible case of arson. The fire at the 36-unit Le Claire Station Apartments started late Saturday and it took about three hours for firefighters to extinguish it, authorities said. Fire departments from several communities near Chicago helped fight the blaze. Dozens of residents were displaced. (AP)

CHICAGO - A teenager was freed unharmed yesterday morning after being held hostage for more than 10 hours, and the man who had held her was taken into custody. Police did not say how the siege ended at a South Side apartment building or whether weapons were involved. They went to the building about midnight in response to a domestic complaint, but had not determined the relationship of the man and the teenager. (AP)

PITTSBURGH -An infant's skeleton was found in a suitcase by adult siblings cleaning out their elderly mother's house after she died, State Police said. The siblings did not recognize the suitcase as their mother's, but said clothes found inside belonged to her. The suitcase was found under a bed Saturday. The woman, who lived about 30 miles east of Pittsburgh in Hempfield Township, died earlier this month. She was in her 80s. (AP)