Tour Helicopter Carrying 6 Crashes in Lava Field Near South Point

(AP) – A helicopter crashed in a lava field in Hawaiʻi on Wednesday and all six people on board have been safely evacuated from the site, but two are in serious condition, officials said.
Cyrus Johnasen, a public information office for Hawaiʻi County, said it was a tour helicopter with a pilot and five passengers. He said the pilot, a man in his 50s, had been trapped but was later extracted and was in serious but stable condition.  Four people were reported as ambulatory. No other information on their identities was immediately released.
The initial report came in about 5 p.m. and said the aircraft had crashed near the southern most tip of the Big Island, Johnasen said. The site was inaccessible by vehicle so the Hawaiʻi Fire Department sent two helicopters to take victims to ambulances waiting at nearby roads.
“It’s a fluid situation,” Mayor Mitch Roth said.
No information was immediately released on what caused the crash.
 
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