Hilo crews lift 5
out of lava hole

The explorers found they lacked
the gear and strength to get out

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By Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.com

HILO >> Five people are above ground and in good health today after being rescued from a 60-foot-deep lava hole on the side of Mauna Kea Sunday, authorities said.

The group -- two men, a woman, and two teenage boys -- had used ropes to rappel into the old lava structure, then found themselves unable to climb back out, Fire Department rescuers said.

A sixth person, a woman, stayed on the surface and used a cell phone to call for help, said Ron Koehler, head of Mauna Kea Support Services.

The people freed from the hole were identified by the department as Shane Alexander, Tim James, Brian Keith, Joe Lewis, and Jeanne Zimmerman. All were in good condition, but no further information about them was released.

Koehler said the hole is located off a hunting road about a half mile below the 9,000-foot-elevation Hale Pohaku Visitor Information Station.

Fire Capt. Clint Coloma said it's in an old lava field.

"It's just a hole," he said.

At the surface, it's 10 to 15 feet in diameter. At the bottom, it widens to about 30 feet in diameter. "The walls are really smooth," he said.

Once the climbers reached the bottom, they discovered they didn't have the strength to climb back up their ropes and they lacked the equipment they could have attached to the ropes to help them get out, Coloma said.

The call for help reached the fire department at 4:52 p.m., but rescuers driving from Hilo didn't get there until 6:15 p.m.

With the aid of Mauna Kea Support Services and Army personnel from Pohakuloa Training Area, the rescuers set up a rope system which enabled them to pull the people from the hole one by one.