Injured lawyer pulls surviving colleagues from burning plane crash wreckage
A chartered plane crashed Wednesday on the Hawaiian island of Lanai, killing the pilot and two employees for the Maui County planning department and injuring three others.
However, the outcome could have been even worse but for the actions of one injured passenger, attorney James Giroux, who is being hailed as a hero after calling 911 to alert authorities that the plane had gone down and then pulling the two other survivors from the burning wreckage, according to KITV and Maui Now. Another KITV article provides additional details.
“We may have had more casualties if one of the survivors had not been able to move the other two away from the flames” and called 911, “which enabled the emergency crews to attend to the injured quickly,” Maui County Mayor Alan Arakawa said at a press conference.
Giroux, who works for the Maui County corporation counsel’s office, was returning with the others from a planning commission meeting on Lanai, the Star Advertiser notes.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
Hat tip: Hawaii News Now.
