A Maui man who died and an Ohio man who was critically injured in a zip line accident Wednesday morning in Pauka’a have been identified as 35-year-old Ted Callaway and 43 year old Curtis Wright, respectively.
An autopsy has been scheduled for tomorrow (September 23) to determine the exact cause of Mr. Callaway’s death. Mr. Wright remains in critical condition at the Hilo Medical Center as is in “very unstable” condition.
Both men were employed by a Maui company that builds and maintains zip lines. They had just made an adjustment to the line and were in the process of testing it.
The 36-year-old Maui man had traveled about halfway across the 2,300-foot span when a tower collapsed and he fell approximately 200 feet to his death.
The 35-year-old Ohio man, who was standing on the tower, fell about 30 feet. He was taken to Hilo Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition with multiple internal injuries.
The following is all of the information that I have received so far:
There was a fatality and an injury today involving two people on the zip line, possibly workers who were testing it out…
UPDATE…Fire officials say rescue crews airlifted a male victim to Hilo Medical Center in critical condition. Officials say another man was found dead at the scene…
UPDATE…Hawaii County Fire Capt. Chad Shirota said the accident happened at the KapohoKine Adventures zipline in Paukaa north of Hilo. The incident was along Honolii Stream, 3.8 miles up from Kulana Street, a fire department news release said.
The incident was reported at 9:39 a.m. and the first fire rescue unit reached the scene at 9:57 a.m., the fire department said.
Police spokesman Chris Loos said a tower supporting a zipline collapsed. The person who died was riding the zipline and the injured person was on the fallen tower, Loos said…
UPDATE: The victim was a contractor working for Kapohokine Adventures, police said.
It is unknown what kind of work he was doing and whether he was on the zip line at the time. The man was from Maui, police said.
Another man was critically injured in the accident, Big Island fire department officials said.
Police said there appears to have been a malfunction with the zip line equipment near Honolii Stream. Police said a support tower may have fallen.
UPDATE:Star Advertiser reports “Hawaii County police Capt. Randall Medeiros said a 36-year-old Maui man was killed and a 35-year-old Ohio man was injured.
Work was being done on the zipline today by Experiential Resources Inc., KapohoKine co-owner Gary Marrow said. Medeiros said the workers were tightening a cable on a 2,300-foot zipline span after the company received complaints it was too slow. The Maui man was halfway through a test run when the tower fell, Medeiros said. The injured man was on the tower when it collapsed, Medeiros said. Police spokesman Chris Loos said a tower supporting a zipline collapsed. The person who died was riding the zipline and the injured person was on the fallen tower, Loos said.”UPDATE: The worker that was killed and injured came from Maui based ERI. Here is their link: http://experientialresources.net/
Just last week they released this video on youtube announcing the opening of the place:
UPDATE – POLICE RELEASE:
A Maui man died and an Ohio man was critically injured in a zip line accident Wednesday morning in Paukaʻa.
Both men were employed by a Maui company that builds and maintains zip lines. They had just made an adjustment to the line and were in the process of testing it.
The 36-year-old Maui man had traveled about halfway across the 2,300-foot span when a tower collapsed and he fell approximately 200 feet to his death.
The 35-year-old Ohio man, who was standing on the tower, fell about 30 feet. He was taken to Hilo Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition with multiple internal injuries.
…Both men were employed by the Maui-based Go Zip that builds and maintains zip lines all over the world, according to Gary Marrow, a partner of Kapoho Kine Adventures and owner of Lava Hotline. The zipline construction workers had just made an adjustment to the line and were in the process of testing it, according to police who investigated the accident.
One of the workers, a 36-year-old Maui man, had traveled about halfway across the 2,300-foot span when a tower collapsed and he fell approximately 200 feet to his death, police said.
Another zipline construction worker, a 35-year-old Ohio man, who was standing on the tower, fell about 30 feet. He was taken to Hilo Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition with multiple internal injuries, according to police.
“They were construction guys working on the course the last eight months, working on a course that is not even open yet” Marrow said, referring to what is being called “Honolii Mountain Outpost…”
UPDATE: Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi Released the Following Statement:
UPDATE: Mayor Billy Kenoi released the following statement:
“I want to express our concern and condolences to the families of both men involved in this tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers go out to their families.”
“We will conduct a careful, thorough review to determine all of the facts in this case. We need to know exactly what happened and why, and we need to know exactly what went wrong. When we have completed that review and the facts are known, we will release our findings publicly.”
UPDATE: The following was released by Experiential Resources the company contracted to build the ziplines:
UPDATE: Media Release from KapohoKine Adventures:
Experiential Resources, Inc (ERi), the construction company contracted by Lava Hotline in Pauka’a, experienced a tragic construction accident today that resulted in two injuries, one of which was fatal. There were no Lava Hotline employees affected.
As KapohoKine Adventures doesn’t have direct involvement in either the build or operation of the Pauka’a property, we have no further information or details on the accident, but additional information will be made available by ERi.
KapohoKine Adventures offers our sincerest condolences to the entire ERi and Lava Hotline ‘ohanas, and our thoughts and prayers go out to the loved ones of those affected.
We appreciate the outpouring of support received from the community through phone calls and emails, and will share all of them with everyone directly affected, and we ask everyone to join us in respecting ERi’s request to honor the privacy and dignity of the affected families during this difficult time.
For additional information, contact:
ERi – John White, President, Todd Domeck, Owner (808) 665-5406 jwhite@experientialresources.net
KapohoKine Adventures – Gary Marrow, Owner (808) 964-1000
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