U.S. Navy official says one person is in critical condition after a helicopter with five people on board crashed in Honolulu Thursday.
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People who saw the crash jumped into the water and helped pull the victims to shore.
A Bell 206B helicopter lost control, spiraling down and crashing near Pearl Harbor, and a tourist caught it all on camera.
Mr Winrich’s daughter, Justice, said initially the helicopter looked like it was normal as it was not “shaking or anything”.
Winrich said three people surfaced right away followed by a fourth, but they told would-be rescuers that they couldn’t find the fifth person.
Winrich uploaded his video clip to YouTube under the account “mrmotofy”. Gardner, a federal police officer, a Navy sailor, and another man took turns diving into the helicopter and trying to cut at the trapped teenager’s seat belt, the AP reported.
Local author Allan Seiden was signing books at the visitor center when someone told him a helicopter crashed.
It’s not clear yet what caused the crash. A 16-year-old boy was treated by EMS and transported to an area hospital in critical condition.
Fellow tourist Amber Moncrieff said, “I heard a couple very loud bangs”.
“I think it sunk instantly”, he said.
The Navy said the helicopter apparently belonged to Genesis Aviation.
Jeff Gebhard owns Genesis Aviation, the company involved in the crash, and told Hawaii News Now on Thursday night that he’s been in contact with the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration.
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Other passengers were in waters outside of the aircraft, clutching flotation devices, he said. “It’s part of the instinct, growing up in Hawaii”, Gardner said. Twenty-five year veteran pilot Bob Lancaster says you have just seconds to react in emergency situations.
