HANAPEPE — Four days after a plane crash claimed the lives of five people, family and friends have started GoFundMe accounts to raise money for funeral and other expenses. Enzo Amitrano, Wayne Rose, brothers Marshall and Phillip Cabe and Damien
HANAPEPE — Four days after a plane crash claimed the lives of five people, family and friends have started GoFundMe accounts to raise money for funeral and other expenses.
Enzo Amitrano, Wayne Rose, brothers Marshall and Phillip Cabe and Damien Horan were flying in a Cessna 182H when it crashed Monday morning.
Amitrano, 43, Rose, 27 and Horan, 30, were employed at Skydive Kauai, which flies out of the Port Allen Airport. Officials say the men were taking two tandem skydivers, Marshall Cabe, 25, and Phillip Cabe, 27, to the jump site when the plane reportedly had engine trouble, crashed and burned.
Four of the men died at the scene. One was taken to Wilcox Memorial Hospital, where he later died.
Friends of the families have taken to GoFundMe to help them cover unexpected costs.
Jenny El-Guebaly is one of them.
El-Guebaly, who started an account for Rose, a skydive instructor, said she knew him through his wife, Kaela.
“She is one of my closest friends, and he was truly the kindest, most loving person I’ve ever known. The love they shared was the kind of love people write stories about,” she said. “People can go there whole life searching for that kind of love and never find it, and I think few will ever know it.”
Proceeds from the account will go to Kaela, she said.
“The last thing she needs to worry about is the financial burden from losing her husband,” she said.
As of Friday, the page raised $5,285. The goal is $15,000.
A total of 55 people have donated money to Kaela, posting words of condolences on the page.
“The world lost an incredible human. Praying for Wayne’s family and friends. I went skydiving for the first time last month. I was terrified and Wayne made me feel so at ease,” Diana Deaibes wrote on the page.
A funeral and celebration of Rose’s life will be at Salt Pond Beach at 5 p.m. today. The ceremony includes a paddle out, and the public is welcome.
“People that knew Wayne — even if it was only once for a skydive — instantly felt his passion for life and for Kaela,” El-Guebaly said. “He had an infectious personality.”
A GoFundMe account for Amitrano, who was also a skydive instructor, has been activated.
The page was started by Molly Ewing.
“Our community and family is saddened by the sudden loss of such an amazing friend,” she wrote.
A total of 64 people had donated $5,655 to Amitrano’s family by Friday.
“We honor the memory of Enzo Amitrano, who spiritually nurtured the Island of Kauai and its visitors. Blessings and Love to his family and friends,” wrote Rita and Patrick Feren, pastors at the Center for Spiritual Living.
At least two GoFundMe accounts have been started for the Cabe brothers, who were visiting from Lawton, Oklahoma.
One, started by Kelly Liberatore, a Real Estate broker at Makai Properties, said they came to Kauai to visit their father and grandparents.
The brothers recently celebrated birthdays, and were graduates from Lawton University.
“Both boys were charismatic, full of life and ALWAYS there to help friends in need,” the page said.
Liberatore said she started the page to help the brothers’ father.
Twelve people have donated to the brothers’ page by Friday, raising $570. The goal is $10,000.
Another GoFundMe account, which raised over $3,000 for the brothers, has since been taken down.
While a GoFundMe account has not yet been set up for Horan, who was the pilot of the plane, his friends in Australia plan to have a memorial in Tammin.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the crash of the 1965 aircraft.
A preliminary accident report is expected to be posted in the next two weeks.
