Hawaii skydiving crash victims included young couple, sailor

All 11 people on board a skydiving plane died when it crashed and burned at a small airfield north of Honolulu last week. It was the worst civilian aviation accident in the U.S. since 2011.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner's office has identified seven of victims, including a young couple from Colorado celebrating their first wedding anniversary, several skydiving instructors and a Navy sailor. Family members have confirmed the deaths of two others.

JOSHUA DRABLOS

This June 2019 photo provided by Natacha Mendenhall shows Casey Williamson, left, and his mother Carla Ajaga in Possum Kingdom Lake, Texas. Mendenhall said her cousin Williamson, who worked at Oahu Parachute Center, was on board the skydiving plane that killed multiple people when it crashed Friday evening, June 21, 2019. She said her family has not been officially notified of his death. But they provided Honolulu police with Williamson's name and date of birth, and the police confirmed he was on the flight, she said. The 29-year-old Yukon, Okla., native started skydiving about two-and-a-half years ago. Williamson was his mother's only child, Mendenhall said. (Natacha Mendenhall via AP)

The Navy said Lt. Joshua Drablos, 27, was "an invaluable member" of the U.S. Fleet Cyber Command, based in Kunia, Hawaii.

Drablos was a 2015 graduate of the Naval Academy where he studied quantitative economics, reported the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland.

Rory Quiller coached Drablos in track and field during his four years at the academy. He said Drablos had a passion for everything he did.

This June 2015 photo provided by Natacha Mendenhall shows Casey Williamson in Fort Worth, Texas. Natacha Mendenhall said her cousin Williamson, who worked at Oahu Parachute Center, was on board the skydiving plane that crashed on Friday evening, June 21, 2019. She said her family has not been officially notified of his death. But they provided Honolulu police with Williamson's name and date of birth, and the police confirmed he was on the flight, she said. The 29-year-old Yukon, Oklahoma native started skydiving about two-and-a-half years ago. (Natacha Mendenhall via AP)

"Josh had an immediate and profound impact on people," said Quiller, a volunteer assistant track and field coach.

Quiller said the team always had Drablos take recruits around the academy because his personality would get them fired up about being there.

WSET in Lynchburg, Virginia reported Drablos was a skilled pole vaulter at Jefferson Forest High School in Forest, Virginia.

His former high school coach, Michael Parker, said Drablos was fearless, fast and always up for an adventure.

NIKOLAS GLEBOV

The 28-year-old worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on board a fisheries survey ship based in Kodiak, Alaska, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported .

NOAA spokesman David Hall told the newspaper Glebov was a general vessel assistant on the NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner's office said Glebov was from St. Paul, Minnesota.

DANIEL HERNDON

The Oklahoma native worked as a skydiving instructor at Oahu Parachute Center.

Stacy Richmond told KTUL in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that her brother passed away doing what he loved.

"He told me when we were kids that he wanted to skydive when he grew up, and it's what he loved to do," she said.

She said Herndon's wife, Natt, would be spreading his ashes in the ocean because he loved the water.

Oahu Parachute Center's website said Herndon had over 10 years of experience and had completed 4,000 jumps. He was a certified instructor and videographer. The website said he enjoyed sharing the sport with others, exploring the islands and scuba diving.

Herdon's family plans a private memorial skydive in his honor. A public memorial service is scheduled for July 1 in Oklahoma.

MICHAEL MARTIN

The 32-year-old skydiving instructor also taught kite surfing.

His girlfriend, Alex Nakao, visited a growing memorial near the crash site over the weekend, Hawaii News Now reported .

"He did get stressed out at work sometimes, but he loved what he did," she said. "He died doing what he loved."

JORDAN TEHERO

Jordan Tehero, a 23-year-old from the Hawaii island of Kauai, took up skydiving a few years ago as a distraction from the breakup of a relationship, his father, Garret Tehero, said. Then his son "went and fell in love" with the sport, he said.

His parents were both worried about his new hobby.

"Because of our fear, we wanted him to stop," the father said. "But he didn't have the fear that we had, so he just continued."

Any fears he may have had were taken care of with prayer. "He always told me, 'Dad, I pray before every flight, before every jump I pray,' " the father said.

ASHLEY and BRYAN WEIKEL

The Colorado Springs, Colorado couple were celebrating their first wedding anniversary at the time of the crash.

Relatives told KCNC-TV that Bryan and Ashley Weikel were really excited to go skydiving but Bryan's mother, Kathy Reed-Gerk, said she had begged him not to go. Bryan was 27, and Ashley was 26 years old.

They posted images on social media leading up to the flight, including a final post of a video of the plane pulling up to them. The family says the tail number on the plane in the video matched that of the one that crashed.

Bryan's brother Kenneth Reed wrote on Facebook that his brother was "the absolute best person in the world" and that his wife was his "identical soul mate."

CASEY WILLIAMSON

Casey Williamson's love of adventure led him to winter snowboarding in Vail, Colorado, and summer skydiving in Moab, Utah. A year-and-a-half ago, he found his way to Hawaii, where he could skydive year-round.

The 29-year-old was his mother Carla Ajaga's only child, his cousin Natacha Mendenhall said.

"We're all very upset," said Mendenhall, speaking from her home in Fort Worth, Texas. "She cannot really talk right now. What she wants everyone to know is how full of life her son was, how loving he was."

Williamson, who was from Yukon, Oklahoma, worked as an instructor and as a videographer who filmed customers as they dove. He was trying to earn more jumping hours and learn the trade, Mendenhall said.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner's office hasn't identified Williamson. But his family provided Honolulu police with Williamson's name and date of birth, and the police confirmed he was on the flight, Mendenhall said.

Associated Press writers Rachel D'Oro in Anchorage, Alaska, Colleen Slevin in Denver and AP Researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.

Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).

Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.

That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.

In Ukraine's capital, doctors and ambulance crews evacuated patients from a children’s hospital on Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.

Parents hefting bags of clothes, toys and food carried toddlers and led young children from the Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1 on the outskirts of the city. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.

In the video, a security official from Russian ally Belarus alleged that military personnel were based in the hospital. Kyiv city authorities said that the claim was “a lie and provocation.”

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that civic authorities were awaiting an assessment from security services before deciding when it was safe to reopen the hospital.

“We cannot risk the lives of our children,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.

Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.

It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.

“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.

It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.

While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.

“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.

Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future, and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.

Jill Lawless contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)