PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A local couple was killed in a helicopter crash while on their honeymoon in Hawaii.

The helicopter crashed Thursday killing the pilot and all four passengers.

Two of those passengers are a newlywed couple from our area – Nicole Bevilacqua and Mike Abel.

“Our prayers, our sympathy go out to the Able and the Bevilacqua family and friends,” Father Michael Stumpf, of St. Mary of the Mount, said. “One thing that’s probably crazy is in this situation is there’s an immediate reality because it’s so tragic and it’s so unusual.”

Bevilacqua was a graduate of Franklin Regional High School and Penn State University.

She was an engineer at Westinghouse along with her new husband, Mike, who was a graduate of East Allegheny High School and Grove City College.

The couple was married just this past weekend in a service at Saint Mary of the Mount Church in Mount Washington. Father Stumpf presided over the ceremony six days ago.

“Young couple, intelligent, beautiful, energetic, hopeful about this chapter of their lives and cut so short – so, so tragic,” he said.

They were on their honeymoon and were taking a sightseeing tour when the helicopter slammed into a mountain ridge.

Investigators haven’t determined the cause of the crash but the NTSB is on scene.

Bevilacqua’s mother and father are on their way to Hawaii to make arrangements to bring the bodies back home.

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