Three of the seven passengers who died last Friday in an accident of helicopter in Hawaii have been formally identified by researchers, reports indicate.
Paul Matero, 69, Amy Gannon, 47, and Jocelyn Gannon , 13, were aboard the tourist aircraft when it collapsed and fell into the sea, facing Kauai Island on Thursday afternoon.
It is believed that the other four people who were in the helicopter were Swiss, however, their names have not been publicly disclosed.
It is reported that it was a family made up of a 50-year-old woman, a 49-year-old man and two 13 and 10-year-old girls.
Rescuers discovered remains of the helicopter Friday afternoon in waters near the remote Nualolo area.
Since then they have been able to recover six bodies and continue in the search for the seventh fatality.
Paul Matero was the pilot of the Safari Helicopter Tours aircraft, a company that said he had 12 years of experience and was a resident of Wailua, a town on the island of Kauai.
Amy and Jocelyn Gannon of Wisconsin were in the middle of a family vacation in Hawaii. Amy’s husband, Mike, and their 16-year-old son, Aaron, decided not to join the helicopter ride.
Reports indicate that the helicopter was leaving the area of the Grand Canyon of the Pacific before the group lost contact.
It is described that the island experienced “very bad weather conditions” on the day of the accident.
Ed Case, representative of the United States for the first Hawaiian congressional district, condemned the tourist helicopter and small aircraft industry for its apparent safety and regulatory failures.
Also, Case blamed the Federal Aviation Administration for allegedly ignoring the suggestions of the National Transportation Safety Board to improve safety.
Source: Tribuna
