A 51-year-old woman from Kamuela died Tuesday (April 13) from injuries she sustained in a one-vehicle crash on Route 180, 150 feet south of the five-mile marker in Hōlualoa, North Kona.

Responding to a 3:57 p.m. call, Kona patrol officers determined that the woman was operating a 1997 Volkswagen, four-door sedan and traveling north on Route 180 when she lost control and ran off the left side of the road about 50 feet down an embankment, where the vehicle caught on fire.

The driver burned in the vehicle.

The victim was taken to Kona Community Hospital where she was pronounced dead at 7:01 p.m.

The name of the victim is being withheld pending positive identification.

It is unknown at this time if speed, alcohol or drugs were factors in this case.

Traffic Enforcement Unit officers have initiated a coroner’s inquest case and have ordered an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death.

Police ask that anyone with information about the crash call Officer Thomas Koyanagi at 326-4646, extension 229.

This is the 9^th traffic fatality on the Big Island this year compared with five at this time last year.