Survivors reported entering a "wall of rain," just as the helicopter carrying a pilot and five passengers got over the ocean Friday afternoon. Two of the survivors swam to a reef where they were rescued. A third swam to the beach.

Beloit, Wisc., police Capt. Bill Tyler said the department's evidence officer, Karen Clifton and her new husband, Bill Thorson, survived the crash in the Heli USA aircraft. Clifton's father, Laverne Clifton, died, he said.

Karen Clifton and Thorson were married about a week ago, Tyler said.

Tyler said Laverne Clifton and his wife were in Hawai'i to celebrate a wedding anniversary, but Clifton's wife did not take the ride.

Tyler said Beloit police received a call from Hawai'i police at about 1:15 a.m. Saturday asking for assistance in notifying local family members.

He said he also spoke briefly with Karen Clifton who was understandably distraught and in the hospital at the time.

The wreckage of the Aerospatiale AS350 was pulled from the ocean on Sunday and taken to a hangar at Lihu'e Airport where it will be reconstructed to help determine why it crashed, said Debra Eckrote, a senior investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board.

The surviving passengers told investigators they "saw a wall of rain," said Nicole Charnon, an investigator with the NTSB who interviewed the survivors and witnesses. "The helicopter flew in there, and all of a sudden (they were) near the water."

Within seconds of hitting the water, the passengers recalled the helicopter turning on its side and submerging, she said.

The Wisconsin couple, who were in the right front and right rear seats, got out of the helicopter and swam to the surface, Charnon said. The couple swam to a nearby reef in the pouring rain, lightning and thunder. There, they were helped to the beach by lifeguards. The pilot, who had been in the left front seat, also swam away from the wreck.