HANAPEPE — After nearly 21 hours of searching for a missing pilot and his passenger, divers with the Kaua‘i Fire Department pulled two bodies from the water off the South Shore. The county announced the discovery minutes after the bodies
HANAPEPE — After nearly 21 hours of searching for a missing pilot and his passenger, divers with the Kaua‘i Fire Department pulled two bodies from the water off the South Shore.
The county announced the discovery minutes after the bodies were found just before 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
Although the bodies have not yet been positively identified as 55-year-old Jim Gaither, the owner of Big Sky Kaua‘i, and passenger Kim Buergel, 49, of Spokane, Wash., officials believe them to be the victims of Tuesday’s powered hang glider crash, a county press release states.
“Our condolences go out to the families of the victims who have waited patiently for results of the search,” Fire Chief Robert Westerman said in the release. “Obviously, this is a terrible loss for them. Hopefully, the recovery of the remains can provide some closure.”
Sonar technology used in Wednesday’s search, which began at 7:30 a.m., picked up images of objects that prompted rescue divers to investigate.
“Divers confirmed they were two bodies and a motor,” the mayor’s executive assistant, Beth Tokioka, said in an e-mail.
The divers recovered the bodies, one male and one female, in an area known as Big Flats. The motor, which may have belonged to the “trike” powered hang glider, was also found near the bodies. It was not removed.
Searchers began looking for Gaither and Buergel after a kayaker reported seeing an aircraft crash into water off the South Shore at about 11:40 a.m. on Tuesday.
County spokeswoman Sarah Blane said each day roughly 70 people participated in the search, which shifted from a rescue to a recovery mission Tuesday night.
The Kaua‘i Fire Department set up its command center Wednesday morning at the Hanapepe Armory. There, Blane said rescuers had begun using sonar technology to capture images of the ocean floor near where the Big Sky Kaua‘i glider is believed to have crashed.
The search concentrated on an area some 200 yards from the southern shoreline in the vicinity of Kaua‘i Coffee Company in Kalaheo, where the crash had reportedly occurred, the release states.
The U.S. Coast Guard, state Department of Land and Natural Resources, county Ocean Safety Bureau, and the Kaua‘i Police and Fire departments, assisted in the air and sea search, using helicopters, boats, Jet Skis and lots of manpower.
“I can’t say enough about the tireless efforts of the county, state and federal personnel — along with the many private citizens — who assisted with this effort,” county Managing Director Gary Heu said in the release. On behalf of the Mayor and the entire County of Kaua‘i, I extend my deepest sympathies to the Gaither and Buergel families on their loss.”
A call to Big Sky Kaua‘i was not immediately returned.
• Jessica Musicar, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or by e-mailing jmusicar@thegardenisland.com.
