Hawaiʻi Police Department
Traffic Enforcement Unit
Sergeant Christopher D. Gali
Phone: 961-2332
Report No. C13002034
Media Release
Five people died Wednesday (January 23) in a two-vehicle crash on Highway 11 .6 of a mile south of the 54-mile marker just south of Pāhala.
Responding to a 10:17 report, Kaʻū District officers determined that a 2012 Nissan four-door sedan was traveling south at the Punaluʻu bridge when it swerved to the left, crossed the center line and crashed head-on into a 2002 Ford pickup truck. The truck overturned and caught fire.
A man and woman in the truck died at the scene, as did a male driver and a male passenger in the sedan. A male child in the sedan was taken to Kaʻū Hospital and then flown to Kona Community Hospital, where he later died.
No more details are immediately available at this time.
Police initiated four negligent homicide cases and a coroner’s inquest case.
The deaths were the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh fatalities so far this year compared with none at this time last year.