Two killed,
14 hurt in
2 accidents

By Jaymes K. Song
Star-Bulletin

Two teen-age boys were killed and 14 other people were injured in two separate New Year's Day accidents on the neighbor islands.

On Maui, three 16-year-old boys and one 17-year-old boy, all from Wailuku, were traveling west in a white Honda on Okulani Drive in Wailea when the driver lost control at about 5:29 p.m., Maui police said.

The driver, 16, and two of his passengers were ejected from the car when they slammed into a monkeypod tree, said Maui police Officer Ryan Masada.

The third passenger was trapped inside the car and had to be removed by firefighters.

The boy trapped in the car and one of the passengers who had been ejected died at the scene.

The driver and one passenger were treated for minor injuries.

Speed is suspected in the accident, police said. Drug and alcohol use are under investigation.

On the Big Island, a 31-year-old man was arrested after he collided with three vehicles, injuring himself and 11 others.

The Keeau man was driving a Ford pickup truck eastbound on Kawaihae Road when he crossed the center line at about 6:45 a.m. and sideswiped a Mercury Sable and a pickup truck heading in the opposite direction, Big Island police said.

The driver of the Ford pickup continued east and collided head-on with a passenger van near Waiemi Street.

All 10 people in the van were injured and trapped, police said.

Firefighters cut off the doors of the van to rescue the trapped people.

A woman and man in the van were airlifted to Queen's Hospital in critical condition. They were listed in fair condition today.

Nine others -- eight women from the van and a male passenger in the Ford pickup truck -- were treated at North Hawaii Community Hospital.

"It was a big accident," said Big Island police Officer Ken Quiocho.

The 10 people in the van all work at the same hotel and were carpooling to work, police said.

The driver of the pickup truck was booked for drunken driving, having no auto insurance and three counts of negligent injury.

He was released pending blood-alcohol test results, which should be returned in about a week, investigators said.