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Saturday August 26 7:39 AM ET

Hawaii Tour Plane Crashes, One Still Missing

HONOLULU (Reuters) - A twin-engine tour company plane with nine people on board crashed Friday evening in waters several miles north of Hilo Airport on the island of Hawaii.

Rescue crews with the Hawaii County Fire Department pulled eight people from the water shortly after the 5:30 p.m. (0230 GMT Saturday) crash. They were still searching for the ninth person as darkness fell, fire officials said.

The survivors were taken to Hilo Medical Center and a hospital spokesman said they were in satisfactory condition Their injuries were not available.

The plane, a Piper Chieftain, was owned and operated by Big Island Air. A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said the plane took off from Keahole-Kona Airport and was headed for Hilo when an engine reportedly caught fire.

An investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board was expected to arrive in Hilo sometime Saturday.

The tour company lost a Chieftain in September 1999 when the plane slammed into the slopes of Mauna Loa volcano, killing all 10 people aboard.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), August 26, 2000