A man who was killed in a helicopter crash near Gisborne yesterday has been named by police this morning.
Donald Carlton Kain, 53, a siviculture supervisor from Gisborne, died when the chopper came down in a forestry block around 10am yesterday.
He was a passenger on board the Gisborne Helicopters Ltd machine that crashed at the bottom of a hill on the Paritu Road off State Highway 2 in the Wharerata Ranges.
The pilot, aged 49, remains in Gisborne Hospital intensive care unit in a serious condition with multiple injuries, police said.
The chopper was delivering supplies from one work site to another prior to a controlled burnoff on the property when the crash occurred.