Conditions improve for copter survivors
LIHUE > Survivors of two helicopter crashes last week are improving, and all are out of critical condition, officials and friends said yesterday.
Douglas and Judy Barton of Newport, N.H., victims in Sunday's Inter-island helicopter crash in Haena, are in fair and serious condition, respectively, at the Queen's Medical Center.
Friends told WMUR television in New Hampshire that Douglas Barton, 60, a machinist, suffered a broken arm, while Judy Barton, who has been employed at the same bank, Sugar River Savings, for 32 years, suffered a broken spine.
They were on Kauai celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary, friends told the station.
The condition of Dania Hansen, 60, of Los Altos, Calif., is still serious, said Wilcox Hospital spokeswoman Lani Yukimura, but she is conscious and able to talk.
Michael Gershon, 60, of Walnut Creek, Calif., died in the crash. The pilot, Donald Torres, 30, of Hanapepe, suffered minor injuries.
The survivors of last Thursday's Heli USA crash in Princeville are also doing better, friends and officials reported yesterday.
The Queen's Medical Center declined to give information on Veronica O'Donnell of East Rockaway, N.Y., and James McCarty of Cabot, Ark. McCarty, 48, lost his spouse, Teri, 47.
Friends of O'Donnell said she is awake and alert. O'Donnell, 45, lost her husband, John, in the crash. They were on Kauai celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary.
Cornelius Scholtz, 31, of Santa Maria, Calif., has been upgraded to serious condition at Queen's, officials said. He lost his new wife, Magriet Inglebrecht, 19, in the crash.