4 killed as car slams
big rig’s gas tank

The fuel catches fire on impact
after an early milk run
north of Kailua-Kona

Four people died after their car crashed into a tractor-trailer on the Mamalahoa Highway on the Big Island early yesterday morning.

According to the Hawaii County Fire Department, the driver of the Meadow Gold tractor-trailer was heading north on the two-lane highway when he saw a south-bound Honda hatchback cross the center line towards him. The tractor-trailer tried to swerve off the road, but the hatchback collided into the tractor-trailer's gas tank, which then burst into flames.

The fire shattered the vehicle, said Autumn Gunter, a nearby resident.

"When I got up here it was just pretty bad. There was a semi that had exploded and was in numerous pieces just scattered for, gosh, 100 yards," she said.

The crash occurred near the Makalei Hawaii Country Club, about six miles north of Kailua-Kona at about 3:20 a.m.

While the cause of the crash is still under investigation, alcohol is believed to be a factor, police said.

Three men, the driver and two passengers, were killed in the collision. A fourth passenger, a 42-year-old woman, was ejected from the car and died in the ambulance on the way to the Kona Community Hospital, authorities said.

The driver of the tractor-trailer, Kyle Fujimoto, 50, was treated for minor injuries at the hospital and released.

A spokeswoman for Meadow Gold said the driver had just made a delivery of milk to the company's Kona plant and was on his way back to Hilo when the crash took place.

"He had already dropped it off and was heading back with an empty trailer and saw the car," said Communications Pacific spokeswoman Jackie Smythe.

The highway was closed between Waikoloa Road and Kaiminani Drive until the wreckage was cleared.

Two of the passengers were identified by police late yesterday as Nabor Rosas Hernandez, 33, and Jaime Villamil Cortes, 30, both of Kailua-Kona.

The crash brings the total to 28 traffic deaths for the Big Island this year.