"We're helping all the families as well as providing any support to the helicopter company," said Gina Kaulukukui, a bereavement care coordinator for the hospice.

Kaua'i County public information officer Mary Daubert said yesterday that two of the passengers were from New York, two from California and two from Arkansas. One from each state was reported dead.

Kaulukukui said the passengers appeared to be a group of three couples, one of which were in their 30s.

Kaua'i Fire Department officials initially said yesterday the survivors included one female and three males,who were all taken to Wilcox Hospital in critical condition. They later reported that one of the passengers died en route to Wilcox Hospital.

The survivors were critically injured and treated at hospitals last night. Following treatment on Kaua'i, they were transported to O'ahu. This afternoon, the survivors are at The Queen's Medical Center.

Kaulukukui said the passengers' families live on the Mainland and are now making arrangements to travel to Hawai'i.

The A-Star helicopter crash occurred at 3:02 p.m. after the pilot, William Joseph Sulak, radioed to his dispatcher that he was having problems with his hydraulics system, according to Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor.

Sulak was about two miles out from Princeville and was trying to return to the airport. The copter crashed on a grassy area near a runway on the airport's northwest end.

The helicopter belongs to Heli USA Airways, a Las Vegas-based company.