Falling rock in East Maui
kills national park ranger
Officials decline to release her
name until her family is notified
WAILUKU >> A female ranger at Haleakala National Park was fatally injured yesterday while trying to clear a rockslide near the Kaapahu area in east Maui.
She was on duty and driving on Hana Road from Kaupo when she stopped near the Kaapahu area to remove rocks on the narrow road, park service spokesman Mark Tanaka-Sanders said.
She was hit by another rock from the nearby hillside, he said.
Maui police Lt. Jon Morioka said an emergency call about her injury was received at 9:55 a.m. and that she received medical attention but she died at the scene.
She was transported by ambulance to Hana Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
Tweetie Lind, a Hana resident who grows taro, said the ranger was friendly.
"She was a very good person. She always came up to the farm to visit us. It's very sad," Lind said.
Police have classified the incident as an "industrial accident."
The Kaapahu area, about 1,500 acres acquired in 1998 by the park service, has some sections where the county road winds along seaside cliffs cut into steep hillsides.
The ranger had worked for the park service at Kipahulu for several years.
Park Superintendent Don Reeser last night said authorities were still trying to notify the ranger's parents and declined to release her name.
www.nps.gov/hale/
