Navy crew rescues women at Na Pali

Two women at a remote beach at Na Pali Coast State Park were rescued yesterday after a tour helicopter spotted “SOS” written in the sand.

A Navy air crew training off the west coast of Kauai was notified of the SOS. A Navy helicopter with a search-and-rescue swimmer was sent to rescue the women.

One of the women was ill and injured. Both were taken to Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital.

Work to close H-1 through Kaimuki

An eastbound section of the H-1 freeway will be closed for four hours Monday night for maintenance work.

The freeway will be closed from the Koko Head Avenue offramp to the Waialae Avenue offramp under the freeway viaduct by Kahala Mall just before Ainakoa Avenue.

The work be done on the 19th Avenue pedestrian overpass in Kaimuki. The closing will run from 10 p.m. Monday to 2 a.m. Tuesday, said the state Department of Transportation. The state says work in the area is about 90 percent complete, and the lanes are being closed because of the equipment needed and the height of the work.

Drivers are advised to use the Koko Head Avenue offramp. The freeway onramp eastbound from Kapiolani Boulevard will also be closed.

Vocalizing videos

Singers who would like a chance to compete in Fox’s fall show “The X Factor” can create audition videos at a mobile recording booth at Pearlridge Center Uptown today through April 30. Booth hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays. For rules, go to

www.fox.com/the­xfactor/registration.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Goats, sheep in season at Pohakuloa

The Army will open portions of Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii island to hunters during the next two weekends in an effort to eliminate the wild goat and sheep population in conservation areas.

Licensed hunters will be given access to PTA beginning at 5 a.m. today. Hunter check-in stations will be the Huluhulu station on the east side of PTA and the Kilohana station on the west side of PTA.

There hunters will receive maps detailing approved access areas, travel routes and hunting areas on the installation and other information.

Hunters are being encouraged to monitor the PTA Hunter’s Hotline at 969-3474.

“At PTA we have 15 species of federally protected plants and four species of animals and 17 bird species protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act,” said Peter Peshut, a biologist with the PTA Natural Resources Office. “All of these protected species, as well as native plants and animals in general, require an intact native habitat to survive.”

Drowning killed man, police reveal Big Island police said an autopsy has revealed that the 59-year-old Kailua-Kona man whose body was found in Honokohau Harbor drowned.

Police said the body of Franklin Lewis Smith was found at 6:50 a.m. Saturday floating face-down by paddleboarders about 100 yards inside the harbor entrance.

The autopsy also showed Smith had injuries to his head and leg consistent with a fall onto rocks.

The paddleboarders brought Smith’s body to shore. Fire rescue personnel could not resuscitate him. Smith was taken to Kona Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.