Family members of the victims of Friday’s Kauai tour helicopter crash are urging the public to contact Kauai officials if they find any wreckage following the suspension of search and rescue operations for two of the three victims.
The victims have been identified as pilot Guy Croyden, 69, and a couple, James “Jimmy” Quintua, 60, and Amy “Nichole” Ruark Quintua, 53. Nichole Quintua’s body was recovered Thursday by Kauai Ocean Safety Bureau lifeguards.
Johnessa Quintua, Jimmy Quintua’s cousin, described the couple as outgoing
people who are loved by
everyone.
“They are just such wonderful people,” Johnessa Quintua told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Monday. “Nichole and Jimmy were the type of people that if you needed help, they would give their clothes off their back if they had to.”
The couple was based in northern Kentucky, where Jimmy Quintua was an engineer and Nichole Quintua worked in the dental industry. Jimmy Quintua was born and raised in Kaunakakai, Molokai, and met Nichole after moving to the mainland.
The Quintuas do not have any children together, but they have a dog.
Johnessa Quintua said that the couple “worked hard for their money and played hard with their money,” visiting Hawaii
every year to island-hop but mostly to Molokai to visit Jimmy’s uncle, who is Johnessa Quintua’s father and was very close to him, she said.
Jimmy and Nichole Quintua started their trip on Molokai for the Fourth of July weekend, then traveled to Maui before heading to Kauai for a week.
According to Johnessa Quintua, the couple were nearing the end of their Hawaii trip when the helicopter crash occurred.
An Alii Kauai Air Tours &Charters Robinson R44 helicopter crashed Thursday in waters about a quarter-mile offshore from the Hanakoa Valley.
Rescue crews initially spent around 60 hours searching for the victims across 830 square miles after Kauai police dispatch received a call from hikers on the Kalalau Trail who reported witnessing a helicopter crash into the water.
On Sunday around 2 p.m., the Coast Guard and Kauai County officials announced their suspension of the search for Jimmy Quintua and Croyden.
“We would like to thank our Kauai County partners for their professionalism and organization, which have made this unified response very effective,” Coast Guard Cmdr. Kristen Hahn said in a statement. “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.”
Johnessa Quintua said she has been receiving updates on the crash from her nephews and cousin, who are Jimmy Quintua’s two sons and sister, through phone calls. They are currently in Kentucky and unable to travel to the islands.
“It just sucks that it takes stuff like this — what makes your family stronger is when going through all of these hard times, because our family took a lot of hardships this past year,” Quintua said. “We lost Jimmy, and my father just recently passed last year.”
The latest update received by Quintua was that the search for her cousin has been called off.
“We’re still in awe and disbelief,” she said. “We’re hurt that they’re still not trying to do anything, but it’s beyond our control.
“Our families are trying to pull together and go out there to see if we can find anything to reopen the search back up again. There’s so many unanswered questions. We would love to find him and give him the proper burial that he needs. I’m pretty sure everybody did try their best. It’s really hard, but I do want to thank everybody that did have a hand in it.”
Quintua expressed her gratitude toward everyone who played a role in the search but still urges the community to reach out if anyone sees anything that could help reopen the case and continue the search.