A $200,000 ambulance that crashed into a tree over the weekend in Kaneohe was totaled, according to the city Department of Emergency Services.

The vehicle was returning from Castle Medical Center and heading to its station at Kahuku Medical Center and had no patients inside at the time, said James Ireland, director of the Emergency Services Department.

A large truck that had crossed the center line on Kamehameha Highway forced the ambulance, with two employees inside, off the road and into a tree near Kualoa Regional Park at about 1:30 p.m. Saturday, he said.

"They basically had a choice of a head-on collision or running off the road," Ireland said. "Unfortunately, there was a big tree there."

The truck driver returned to help. The two women in the ambulance, a paramedic and an emergency medical technician, were taken in serious condition to the hospital and released later, Ireland said.

He said the ambulance was only about a year old and probably had another couple of years of service. Ambulances are retired from the city fleet after 200,000 miles; retired ambulances are kept as spares.

The crash didn’t disrupt services because the city has 15 spare ambulances, he said. There are 19 ambulances in active service, Ireland said.