Public Safety Incidents in Hawaii

An Airborne Aviation Hughes/MD 500 touring helicopter — marketed as a “doors-off thrill seekers adventure tour” — crashed into the ocean about 100 yards offshore of Kalalau Beach on Kauai’s Nā Pali Coast Thursday afternoon (reports list the time between about 3:45 p.m. and just before 5 p.m. local time), killing three of the five people aboard (one pilot and four passengers) and injuring two. The NTSB says it will examine the helicopter after it is recovered and has opened an investigation, and Kauai Mayor Derek Kawakami thanked first responders and called visitors “part of our family.”