A private helicopter with five people on board, including a family of four, crashed on Thursday afternoon into Oahu’s Pearl Harbor, leaving one teenage passenger in critical condition.
The Bell 206 aircraft crashed about 20 feet offshore, right next to a visitor center, tourist Justice Winrich told ABC News. Winrich claims to have seen dark smoke coming from the back of the helicopter just before it took the plunge into the shallow, murky water below.
“I heard a helicopter, I did not see it, I just heard it go into what we call auto rotation and I saw people running and screaming,” tour guide Chris Gardner told ABC News. “They were fortunate to have been flying with the doors off, which is a good thing so those passengers were accessible. Everybody had gotten out except, I guess he was a kid in the back. I have credentials to run around to a secure area and just took off my shirt and dove in the water.”
Gardner described how he, a Navy sailor, a federal police officer, and another man took turns diving to the submerged helicopter and trying to free a passenger with a knife. “He was strapped into his seat in the back of the aircraft.”
After several minutes underwater, they eventually freed the teenage passenger. As of last night, the teenage passenger is still listed in “critical condition.”
