BARRY MARKOWITZ / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BULLETIN
Tour van occupants showed their injuries to rescue workers yesterday as they were triaged at the scene after a pickup truck crashed into their vehicle at Kahana Valley. The truck's occupants were the most seriously injured.
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22 hurt after truck slams into tour van in Kahana
Pickup's occupants in serious condition after crash
A PICKUP TRUCK crossed the center line of Kamehameha Highway and crashed into a large tour van of mostly Japanese visitors yesterday in Kahana, injuring 22 people, two of them seriously.
The 34-year-old truck driver was pinned inside and initially in critical condition but was later upgraded to serious condition. He and a 57-year-old female passenger in the van, who was in serious condition, were taken to Swanzy Beach Park, where they were airlifted to the Queen's Medical Center.
The remaining passengers and the male van driver were taken to area hospitals in good condition, said Donnie Gates, Emergency Medical Services assistant chief of operations.
olice said the truck's driver was speeding when the truck crossed the center line along a curve on Kamehameha Highway near Trout Farm Road. The impact left a 1-foot hole in the van, police said.
Honeymooner Takahiro Muguruma, 26, was limping after having his leg placed in a brace and called the accident "very, very unlucky."
Muguruma of Tokushima, Japan, was asleep when it happened, but other passengers told him the pickup truck's driver crossed the center line.
He and his bride, Ikuyo Yonemoto, 24, who received a bump to the elbow, were treated at Castle Medical Center.
BARRY MARKOWITZ / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BULLETIN
This driver of the northbound Toyota Tundra pickup truck was extricated from his vehicle and airlifted to the Queen's Medical Center after a crash with a tour van at Kahana Valley. He was in serious condition last night, as was his female passenger.
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Four fire engines and four ambulances responded to the 1:50 p.m. accident.
The Travel Plaza Transportation van was carrying 19 Japanese visitors and one other tourist on a JTB Hawaii tour. The youngest is 8.
The green 2002 Toyota Tundra received major damage to the front end driver's side.
Firefighters had to extricate the driver and he suffered trauma to his legs, fire Capt. Emmit Kane said.
BARRY MARKOWITZ / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BULLETIN
A boy who was riding in the tour van covered his head after yesterday's accident.
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Some of the van's occupants were placed on spine boards as a precaution, Kane said.
According to Gates, three males and one female were taken to St. Francis Medical Center; two females and three males were taken to Castle Medical Center; four males and one female were taken to Straub Clinic & Hospital; and six went to Kuakini Medical Center, including an 8-year-old boy.
BARRY MARKOWITZ / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BULLETIN
The crashed truck that police said was speeding showed severe damage.
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"Some people falling into me," said a 33-year-old Kyoto man who was seated at the rear of the bus in the center seat. He was asleep at the time of the crash, and received a few scratches to his legs and chin and felt dizzy.
A 29-year-old woman from Japan said she saw a "truck just 'bow,'" gesturing a crashing motion with her fist into her other hand. "After that some people got injured like me." The woman was treated for two cuts, one about 4 inches long to the center of her forehead.
