LANAI, Hawaii, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- A Maui-County chartered plane carrying local government employees crashed shortly after takeoff from Lanai Airport on Wednesday night. The crash left three people dead and three others injured.
Maui County authorities confirmed Thursday that the pilot and two Maui Department of Planning employees died in the crash. A Deputy Attorney for Maui Corporation Counsel was seriously injured, while two more Planning Department employees were critically injured with burns.
The five government employees has visited Lanai to take part in Lanai Planning Commission Meeting, and left on a Maui Air flight chartered by the county at 9:05 p.m.
"Maui County is in mourning after we lost two of our own last night in a plane crash," Maui County Mayor Alan Arakawa said in a Facebook post. "Our condolences also go out to the family of the pilot who also died in the crash. Ann and I both wish the surviving county workers a speedy recovery."
Arakawa also said in a press conference that Maui County charters planes "quite a bit," because the county encompasses four islands.
"We have to make sure all the islands have representation," he said.
The deputy attorney who received injuries reportedly made a 911 call saying he'd been in a plane crash, and managed to pull two people out of the crash flames.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration have been notified.
