The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate Wednesday’s tour helicopter crash on Hawaii island.

A Bell 407 helicopter occupied by six people — five passengers and a pilot — crashed in a remote lava field between the Ranchos subdivision and South Point Road at about 5:29 p.m., the Hawaii County Fire Department said.

NTSB spokeswoman Jennifer Grabis said the sightseeing tour departed Kona International Airport and crashed about a half-hour later.

The helicopter was operated by K&S Helicopters, doing business as Paradise Helicopters.

The crash site was more than a mile from the nearest roadway, leading fire rescue crews to rely on their helicopters, one from East Hawaii and the other from West Hawaii, to extract the pilot and his occupants from the site.

All six occupants were injured. One of the passengers, a 19-year-old woman, sustained the most serious injuries. Hawaii County Assistant Fire Chief Darwin Okinaka said a fire rescue helicopter flew her to Kona Community Hospital.

A 54-year-old man who was also seriously injured and other occupants were taken to the hospital via ambulance for treatment, the Fire Department said.

The passengers and pilot have not yet been identified.

Photos of the wreckage showed the mangled aircraft with broken pieces strewn on the lava field.

Okinaka said, “It’s definitely a blessing that they were able to survive the crash.”

In a statement, Calvin Dorn of K&S Helicopters said, “K&S Helicopters is cooperating with all authorities involved, and is also working to assist those affected.”

“The care of our passengers, crew members, and their families is our highest priority,” he said.

The company declined to provide details of the crash.

Grabis said an NTSB investigator is yet to travel to the scene. “An investigator will travel to Hawaii to examine the wreckage once it’s recovered.”

In recent years two deadly tour helicopter crashes occurred, one on Oahu and the other on Kauai.

On April 29, 2019, a pilot and his two passengers aboard a Robinson R44 helicopter died in a crash on Oneawa Street, a thoroughfare in a residential neighborhood in Kailua.

The aircraft was operated by Novictor Helicopters, now called Rainbow Helicopters.

An NTSB investigation concluded that the pilot, 28-year-old Joseph Berridge, flew into inclement weather at a higher-than-recommended speed, which resulted in excessive main rotor flapping and an in-flight breakup when the main rotor hit the cabin area.

Berridge relocated to Hawaii from New Mexico after the company hired him 2-1/2 weeks before the crash. He had completed company training 10 days before the April 29 flight.

Eight months after the Kailua helicopter crash, an Airbus AS 350 B2 helicopter operated by Safari Aviation crashed Dec. 26 after it flew into stormy weather near the Na Pali Coast on Kauai. The pilot and all six passengers, including three children, died in the crash.

The NTSB has said the crash on Kauai was preventable. The independent federal agency criticized the FAA for minimal oversight of the safety of air tour operations in Hawaii and failing to implement the board’s safety recommendations.

Investigators said the chief pilot, 69-year-old Paul Matero, flew into a mountainous region near the Na Pali Coast that was covered in low clouds and fog before he either lost control or flew into terrain.

Investigators noted the pilot’s decision to continue flying into worsening visibility conditions was likely influenced by either a lack of up-to-the-minute weather information, a misjudgment or overconfidence in his flying abilities.

The NTSB said the FAA’s failure to implement the board’s 2007 recommendation that the FAA develop and require specialized weather training for air tour operators in Hawaii could have provided Matero the tools to steer clear of unsafe weather conditions.

In Wednesday’s tour helicopter crash, Hawaii County Mayor Mitch Roth said he was awaiting updates on the conditions of the injured, and other information on what might have caused the crash.

The weather in the area around the time firefighters responded to the crash were wind of about 16 mph, gusts of about 23 mph and some scattered or broken clouds, said meteorologist Thomas Vaughan of the National Weather Service. “Standard, afternoon weather on the Big Island.”

According to an NTSB database, Paradise Helicopters was involved in at least two previous accidents during sightseeing tours.

While returning from a sightseeing tour in 2005, a helicopter developed a “sudden vibration in the tail rotor pedals,” followed by a loud crack or snap and then a loud banging noise, the NTSB said. It hit low trees and shrubs when the pilot landed in a clearing in a forest near the Big Island town of Pahoa. The pilot and four passengers were not injured.

And as a Paradise helicopter pilot prepared to take off in 2009 for a sightseeing tour of Oahu for four passengers, the helicopter’s left landing gear collapsed, NTSB records said. The helicopter tilted to the left and was damaged, but no one aboard was injured.

———

The Associated Press contributed to this report.