A vehicle crash below Hale Pohaku closed Mauna Kea Access Road for four hours yesterday afternoon as multiple agencies responded to the accident.
At around 3:30 yesterday, Hawaii Fire Department responded to a call of a truck that lost control, ran off the road, and rolled over into a ravine off the Mauna Kea access road.
The accident occurred at about the 8000 foot level right below Hale Pohaku visitors area. A multi-agency response was launched that consisted of Hawaiʻi Fire Department, Hawaiʻi Police Department, Pohaku Training Area, and American Medical Response.
It was reported that a midsize four-door truck carrying 8 passengers, had lost control ran off the road and rolled over into the ravine coming down Mauna Kea Access road at a high rate of speed and ending up about 200 feet off the roadway into a ravine. Multiple patients were reported to be ejected from the vehicle with life-threatening injuries one resulting in a fatality. The multi-agency response team worked to extract the victums out of the ravine for transportation.
HFD dispatched Chopper 1 and 2, but the weather on the summit at the crash location made medivac by County helicopter, not a possibility. Fire ambulances were utilized for patient transports to Hilo Medical Center.
The cause of the accident has not been released as of press time.