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Hawaii crash update: Tour copter hit ridge, then fell

HONOLULU — A Hawaii tour helicopter that crashed and killed all seven people on board hit a ridge at an altitude of 2,900 feet then fell about 100 feet, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday as investigators planned how to recover the wreckage from the remote and rugged crash site.

“A post-crash fire consumed much of the aircraft,” the NTSB said in an investigative update. “In the coming days the wreckage will be moved to a secure location where investigators will conduct a more thorough examination of the recovered evidence. Details and timing are still being worked out.”

The helicopter’s commercial pilot and six passengers were killed in Thursday’s crash. It was set to tour the Na Pali Coast, the picturesque and remote northern shoreline of Kauai that was featured in the film “Jurassic Park.”

Kauai police said Tuesday that according to a preliminary report from a flight manifest, they believe that four of the six passengers were a family from Switzerland: Sylvie Winteregg, 50, Christophe Winteregg, 49, Alice Winteregg, 13, and Agathe Winteregg, 10.

Police previously identified the other passengers as 47-year-old Amy Gannon and 13-year-old Jocelyn Gannon of Madison, Wisconsin.

Police were finalizing efforts to recover the last remains and personal effects of the pilot and passengers.

“We have recovered as much as we can from the site so that families can hopefully find some sense of closure,” Assistant Chief Bryson Ponce said in a statement.
Source: Hawaii Tribune Herald

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