Authorities have given up the search for two persons, including one half of a Kentucky couple, who were on a tour when their helicopter crashed off the coast of Hawaii.
On July 14, three days after the helicopter crashed a quarter mile off the Na Pali Coast on Kauai, the US Coast Guard issued a press release announcing the suspension.
One of the three passengers, Amy Nichole Ruark Quintua, 53, was discovered “unresponsive by Kauai Ocean Safety Bureau lifeguards” the same day of the incident. She did not survive, according to Fox station WXIX-TV.
Her husband, James Quintua, 60, a passenger, and Guy Croyden, 69, a pilot, have not been discovered. “She and Jim had found each other and were soulmates,” Amy’s sister-in-law Amy Gail Ruark told WXIX-TV. “They were one of those couples whose love for one other left you in awe. We adored Jim and his family as if he had always been a part of our family.”
Ruark described James as having a great heart, saying, “People like them are irreplaceable.” The world was a better place with them around.” She also called her sister-in-law “one of the most kindhearted individuals you would ever meet.”
“My favorite thing about [Amy] was how freely she would tell those she loved that she loved them,” Ruark added in his statement. “And you knew that she meant it.”
According to authorities, the helicopter involved in the incident was operated by Ali’i Kaua’i Air Tours and Charters, which is situated in Lihue.
According to the Coast Guard, crews searched for the missing men for over 60 hours, “covering more than 830 square miles” along the way.
Coast Guard Cmdr. Kristen Hahn, search and rescue mission coordinator for the Coast Guard Sector Honolulu, thanked Kauai County partners for their help in the now-suspended search.
“While this event has been a tragedy for both the families and the community, I am reassured that our responders have been able to collect some debris and exhaust our search efforts, which may provide closure for everyone involved,” Hahn stated in a news release.
The National Transportation Safety Board is looking into the crash.