HONOLULU – The Coast Guard is searching for two people in the water after a helicopter crashed off the Na Pali Coast in Kauai, Hawaii, Thursday. –
Coast Guard Sector Honolulu command center watchstanders received a report from Kauai Fire Department personnel at approximately 1:40 p.m. of a helicopter that crashed with three people aboard approximately a quarter mile off the Na Pali Coast of Kauai. A hiker on the Kalalau trail saw the helicopter crash into the water and notified the fire department.
Coast Guard Sector Honolulu watchstanders directed the launch of an HC-130J Super Hercules airplane crew and an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point, a 45-foot Response Boat-Medium crew from Coast Guard Station Kauai, and the crew of Coast Guard Cutter Joseph Gerczak, a 154-foot Sentinel-class cutter homeported in Honolulu.
Kauai Ocean Safety Bureau Lifeguards embarked jet skis from Hanalei Bay, arrived on scene, and recovered an unresponsive individual from the water.
The Kauai Fire Department responded with an Air 1 helicopter crew, zodiac rescue watercraft crews, and Ocean Safety officers aboard jet skis.
The helicopter that crashed was a Robinson R44 from the Ali’i Kauai Air Tours and Charters company in Kauai. The helicopter had one pilot and two passengers aboard.
Anyone with information that may assist search efforts should contact Sector Honolulu at (808) 842-2603.