Search suspended for pilot and passenger after tour helicopter crash off Hawaii’s Kauai island

Associated Press The Associated Press

FILE - An ambulance enters Lihue Airport on the island of Kauai, Hawaii on Friday, July 12, 2024. Authorities suspended the search for a tour helicopter pilot and one of his passengers after they crashed into the ocean off the Hawaiian island of Kauai last week. (Chris Jensen via AP, File)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/Chris Jensen]

LIHUE, Hawaii (AP) — Authorities suspended the search for a tour helicopter pilot and one of his passengers after they crashed into the ocean off the Hawaiian island of Kauai last week.

The U.S. Coast Guard and Kauai officials said they suspended the search Sunday after searching for about 60 hours across hundreds of square miles.

The Robinson R44 helicopter, of Ali’i Kauai Air Tours & Charters, was carrying the pilot and two passengers, a couple from Kentucky.

A hiker on the Kalalau trail reported seeing the helicopter crash into the water about a quarter of a mile (0.4 kilometers) off the Na Pali Coast on Thursday afternoon and contacted the fire department, officials said.

Lifeguards on personal watercraft recovered the body of one person on Thursday as crews searched for the other two. They also saw what appeared to be an oil slick on the water, along with some small pieces of floating debris, officials said.

It was the latest in a series of crashes to plague the air tour industry in recent years.

In announcing the search suspension Sunday, authorities identified the missing pilot as local resident Guy Croydon, 69, and missing passenger as James Quintua, 60. The passenger recovered after the crash was Amy Nichole Ruark Quintua, 53.

The Quintuas were from Union, Kentucky, Kauai officials said. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.