ANC83FA032

The helicopter was on a rescue/recovery flt for the Alaska state troopers with the plt & a state trooper on board. They departed in variable wx conditions to rescue the plt of another acft. Reportedly, snow was falling in the search area & the winds were gusting between 70 & 90 mph. According to the plt, the eng flamed out during a turn at aprx 1000 ft AGL. He began an autorotation & transmitted a distress call. During an apch to a frozen river, he encountered a total whiteout condition in fog & blowing snow at aprx 75 to 100 ft AGL. He guessed at the alt to apply collective pitch to stop the descent & said that he experienced vertigo during the last part of the descent. The acft impacted in a left, nose down attitude & rolled over. The occupants were unable to reach their survival gear in the wreckage. Wx delay their rescue & the passenger died from hypothermia. The acft was equipped with particle separators, but no snow deflectors were installed. No mechanical eng failure was found, but a coating of ice was found in the eng inlet.