Hawaii helicopter crash kills 5

Photo courtesy of David Lichtenstein

A tour helicopter crashed and burned on the Hawaiian island of Molokai on Thursday, killing all five people aboard, local and federal authorities reported.

CNN Wire Service

A tour helicopter crashed and burned on the Hawaiian island of Molokai on Thursday, killing all five people aboard, local and federal authorities reported.

The helicopter went down about 12:15 p.m. (5:15 p.m. ET) near a school, said Rod Antone, a spokesman for Maui County government. Firefighters found three people dead immediately, while two more turned up in a search of the wreckage, he said.

There were no reports of injuries or damage to buildings on the ground, Antone said. The Eurocopter EC-130 B-4 went down in Kalua’aha, about 60 miles east of Honolulu, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB is investigating the cause of the crash, it said.

The helicopter’s operator, Blue Hawaiian charters, declined to comment on the crash Thursday evening.

CNN’s Greg Morrison contributed to this report.