A private helicopter with five people on board crashed Thursday into Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor, the Associated Press reports. One is in critical condition, but others were reportedly “conscious and were moving their arms when taken away on stretchers”.
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PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) – Tourist Shawn Winrich was taking photos of Pearl Harbor when he saw a helicopter “essentially coming straight at us” at the popular tourist destination. This video was licensed from Grab Networks.
A 16-year-old male is in critical condition and a 50-year-old man and 46-year-old woman are both stable, but there conditions are not known.
As it got closer to the water, she saw some dark smoke coming out of the back of the helicopter, and it started shaking slightly.
“I heard a helicopter, I did not see it, I just heard it go into what we call auto rotation and I saw people running and screaming”, tour guide Chris Gardner told ABC News. “It seemed out of place and not normal so I switched to video real quick and shot the video adn the rest you can see”, said Winrich.
After the crash, good Samaritans jumped into the 8-foot waters off the center’s esplanade to help the passengers and pilot to shore.
The Navy said the helicopter will be taken to Genesis Aviation’s hangar at the airport, where the National Transportation Safety Board will conduct an investigation. “People were very calm”, he said. He rushed over to where people were gathered, but by then the helicopter wasn’t visible. He said they were on the last part of the tour when the chopper slammed into the water.
Federal investigators are looking into the crash.
The Federal Aviation Administration has launched an investigation into the crash.
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Last month, 12 Marines died when two helicopters collided during training, making Thursday’s accident the second helicopter crash on Oahu this year.
