The Visitor Aloha Society, the American Red Cross and other nonprofits are pooling resources to assist the families of the 11 victims who died Friday after their skydiving plane crashed and burned shortly after takeoff.
“One of the first things that we are doing is assisting in getting the remains of these visitors and their personal effects back to families,” Jessica Lani Rich, VASH president and CEO. “When they went skydiving that day, they had their personal effects in a locker. The married couple also left items in their hotel room. We are working to return these precious items back to their families.”
VASH, which receives most of its funding from the Hawaii Tourism Authority, helps visitors in need.
The nonprofit has reached out to the families of the three visitors who were killed, including Colorado newlyweds 27-year-old Bryan Weikel and Ashley Weikel, 26, and Nikolas
Glebov, a 28-year-old
St. Paul, Minn., man who served as a general vessel assistant aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson, a fisheries survey vessel home-ported in Kodiak, Alaska.
VASH also will assist the families of six employees of Oahu Parachute Center who died in the accident and two other local skydivers.
In addition to the three visitors, the other victims were Virginia resident Joshua Drablos, 27, a U.S. military member stationed in Hawaii; Daniel Herndon, 35, a Hawaii resident; Hawaii residents Michael Martin, 32, and Jordan Tehero, 23; Oahu Parachute Center employees Larry Lemaster, James Lisenbee and Casey Williamson; and the pilot,
Jerome Renck.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is continuing its investigation into the cause of the accident, the deadliest civilian aircraft accident in the U.S. since a 2011 Reno Air Show crash that killed the pilot and 10 spectators.
A makeshift memorial at Dillingham Airfield continues to grow as mourners place flowers near the crash site. The airfield, which had been closed since Friday, will reopen at 7 a.m. today.
The state Department of Transportation said investigators are ready to release the plane wreckage to the insurance company. DOT said the aircraft will be transported to a secure location at the airfield to await pickup by the recovery team this week.
Rich said VASH will work with other nonprofits to provide travel assistance and emotional support to the victims’ families.
“We have relatives of the employees coming to clear out their apartments. We have a mother who needs to clear out her son’s personal effects,” Rich said. “It’s just heartbreaking.”
Rich said the tragedy’s scope requires that “VASH do everything that we can to work with other agencies like the American Red Cross to come to the aid of these families while they are here in Hawaii.”
“They all have different levels of need. Some have said that they don’t need help, but others are in need of assistance — everything from airfare to hotel rooms to ground transportation and food,” she said.
Rich said VASH also is working with other agencies to organize a memorial service in Hawaii for the co-workers, friends and
families who are mourning the skydiving plane
crash victims.
The memorial would be similar to the healing event VASH held in February to help the community mourn victims of a Kakaako crash that left three pedestrians dead and five seriously wounded when a man driving a pickup truck ran into pedestrians at a traffic island, she said.
“We’re still working out the details,” Rich said. “This one would be like the Kakaako event, only it would probably be more private.”
