News report from AP
LIHUE, Hawaii (AP) -- Four people died and one survived when a tour helicopter crashed into a volcanic mountain on Kauai Wednesday, officials said.
The wreckage of the Bell 206B helicopter was spotted around noon at about 4,300 feet elevation, Lt. Miles Tanabe, an acting assistant chief with the Kauai Police Department, said.
Rescue personnel were at the scene Wednesday afternoon attempting to have the survivor airlifted from the steep crash site, officials said.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the cause of the crash could not be immediately determined, and identities of the victims were not immediately released.
There was no official word on the survivor's condition, but the FAA said the helicopter was destroyed.
The Bell 206B aircraft owned by Jack Harter Helicopters had been three hours overdue to return from an hourlong tour that left Lihue at 8:03 a.m., said Donn Walker, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Los Angeles.
The crash occurred in a crater on the eastern face of Mount Waialeale, known as the wettest spot on earth, said Fire Battalion Chief Mitchell Ikeda. It happened at about 9 a.m., as the helicopter would have been completing its journey, said Walker.
The Bell 206B was built in 1975, Walker said. Jack Harter Helicopters' ad in the Yellow Pages notes that it has a "perfect safety record."
Officials from the FAA were en route to from the agency's flight standards office in Honolulu, and were scheduled to arrive on Kauai on Wednesday afternoon. The National Transportation Safety Board was also deploying officials for an investigation, officials said.
The FAA said it would set up an emergency wreckage area at the airport commuter air terminal to bring the wreckage in.
"It was only supposed to be an hour sightseeing tour and it never returned," Walker said.
Donn said the helicopter's pilot had not filed a flight plan with the FAA, however he was not required to. He said the pilot had been given a weather briefing from the FAA and no special circumstances were noted.
The pilot was required to file a flight plan with Jack Harter Helicopters, but the company did not immediately say whether such paperwork was received.
It was the second fatal helicopter crash in Hawaii in six weeks. On June 15, a sightseeing helicopter crashed on Hawaii's Big Island near the Kilauea Volcano, killing four people.