Three Japanese found dead in Hawaii tourist plane crash

HILO, Hawaii (AP) A helicopter search team on Sunday found the bodies of three Japanese and the wreckage of the missing Cessna they were aboard on the southeast slope of Mauna Loa volcano.

Those on board were previously identified as pilot Katsuhiro Takahashi, 40, of Kailua-Kona, and passengers Nobuhiro Suzuki, 53, and his wife, Masako, 56, of Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture.

The Island Hoppers tour flight had been missing since it failed to return from a three-hour tour over the Big Island on Tuesday.

Hawaii County Fire Chief Darryl Oliveira said relatives of the pilot and passengers would be briefed privately at county civil defense headquarters in Hilo.

Oliveira said the plane broke into four or five pieces when it crashed. The wreckage was found at 5:53 a.m. in the Ka'u Forest Reserve about 1,585 meters above sea level. The site is about 13 km west of Pahala.

One of the bodies had to be extricated from the wreckage, Oliveira said.

There are no roads in the area, and the crash site is not accessible from the ground, Oliveira said. County fire helicopters were used to remove the bodies and deliver an investigator from the National Transportation Safety Board to the site at about 8 a.m.

Oliveira said the U.S. Coast Guard had searched the area already. But county crews wanted to check again, in part because campers reported hearing a plane passing and the noise from its engine abruptly halt.

There was some broken vegetation where the plane struck, but not a great deal, suggesting the plane may have come down at a steep angle, he said.