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Posted: Tuesday, March 13th, 2007 5:17 AM HST

NTSB investigating two Kauai helicopter crashes

By Associated Press

HAENA, Hawaii (AP) _ Firefighters have recovered components that broke off from a Kauai tour helicopter before it crashed Sunday, killing a passenger. Brian Rayner is an air safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board. He says the components that fell into the ocean could support speculation that the chopper may have hit a bird. The county has identified the 60-year-old man killed in the crash as Michael Gershon of Walnut Creek, California. Dania Hansen, of Los Altos, California, and Douglas and Judy Barton of Newport, New Hampshire, were critically injured and taken to Wilcox Memorial Hospital. The Bartons were later transferred to The Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu. The 30-year-old pilot Donald Torres was treated for minor injuries. The Hughes 500 helicopter operated by Inter-Island Airways crashed at a Y-M-C-A camp in the remote Haena area. The F-A-A says the accident came shortly after Torres heard a loud bang and lost control while trying to land. The accident occurred just three days after four people were killed in another tour helicopter accident on Kauai. (Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved)