Body of ex-islander among 3 recovered
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. » The bodies of three California men, including a former Kauai resident, were recovered after a 24-foot boat capsized during a weekend fishing trip near California’s Santa Cruz Island.
A sheriff’s dive team ended its search for the night for the fourth person believed to have died in the capsizing. Three bodies were recovered after the boat from Channel Islands Harbor was reported overdue on Sunday and a search began.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department’s statement said the three victims recovered are all men from Ventura County: 37-year-old Sieng Sophorn Bun of Oxnard, 54-year-old Edgar Allen Isnec of Port Hueneme and 52-year-old Ramiro Alvarez Duarte of Oxnard.
Isnec was a former Hanamaulu, Kauai, resident, said Debi Austin, a friend and co-worker.
The Sheriff’s Department said the dive team searched the waters until dusk Monday. It was unclear whether they would resume today.
Work will close Kalanianaole Highway lane
The Kailua-bound lane of Kalanianaole Highway between Sea Life Park and the Makai Pier will be closed today, Thursday and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. because of work needed to reinforce road foundations, the state Department of Transportation said. It will be open Wednesday.
Traffic will be contra-flowed in the Honolulu-bound lane.
State transportation spokesman Dan Meisenzahl said recent rain undermined a portion of the foundations.
Crews will be repairing the oceanside foundations with concrete today, and the concrete will be allowed to cure through Thursday, he said.
Meisenzahl said the crews will install new drainage to improve the flow of stormwater and new landscape matting on which to grow ground-cover plants and prevent future erosion.
Crash victim ID’d as woman from Kapaau
A 61-year-old Hawaii island woman who died Friday after a one-vehicle crash on Kohala Mountain Road has been identified as Raylene H. Kawaiaea of Kapaau, Hawaii County police said Monday.
Responding to a 2:28 p.m. call Friday, officers determined that Kawaiaea was driving a 2006 Toyota pickup truck south on Kohala Mountain Road when she lost control of the vehicle, crossed the center line and struck a tree at the 9-mile marker in the South Kohala District.
Kawaiaea was taken to Kona Community Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 8:47 p.m.
Kawaiaea was wearing a seat belt. It was reported that there was heavy fog in the area.
It was the seventh traffic fatality on Hawaii island this year, compared with five at this time last year.
Chopper rescues stranded hikers from Maui ridge
A Maui Fire Department rescue helicopter plucked two brothers off a ridge Monday morning near Kailua in East Maui.
The brothers, 17 and 27, spent Sunday night in the mountains after firefighters deemed it too dangerous to rescue them off the "Commando Trail" at night.
The pair, both Maui residents, were reported missing at about 9:30 p.m. after failing to return home. Fire rescue crews made voice contact with the brothers about midnight.
Wet conditions, steep terrain and darkness made the search too difficult and dangerous to continue at night, county spokesman Lee Mainaga said.
Fire rescuers took them off the ridge at about 7:20 a.m. Monday. They did not require medical attention.
The Commando Trail is along the Hana Highway in East Maui.
