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A Hawaii County Fire Department helicopter airlifted hikers trying to view the lava flow from the Kahaualea Trail in a Puna rain forest, when one of the hikers sprained her ankle on Wednesday.
Six hikers and two tour company guides had hiked nearly four miles in the Kahaualea Forest Reserve, when a 36-year-old woman injured her right ankle on the muddy, unstable trail at about 5 p.m. and wasn’t able to continue, according to a Fire Department news release.
A helicopter took the woman to a landing zone in the Fern Forest subdivision, where she was treated and released by Big Island paramedics.
The helicopter also flew the rest of the tour group, a 13-year-old boy, 35-year-old man, 15-year-old girl, and two women, ages 40 and 41, out of the forest along with the guides.
