Five people — four adults and a 7-year-old boy — died after a head-on crash between a car and a pickup truck Wednesday morning on Highway 11 near Pahala on Hawaii island.
Police and fire officials said a 2012 Nissan Altima four-door sedan crossed the centerline and crashed into a 2002 Ford F-350 pickup truck, causing it to overturn and catch fire.
Hawaii County police have opened four negligent homicide cases and a coroner’s inquest case.
Kau District police responded to the 10:17 a.m. report and determined that the car was traveling toward Kona at the Punaluu Bridge when it swerved left and crossed the centerline before crashing into the truck. The site was six-tenths of a mile south of the 54-mile marker.
The black Ford F-350 was on its side and engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived.
After putting out the truck fire, firefighters found a man and woman dead inside.
Two men inside the car, the driver roughly in his 50s and a front-seat passenger in his 40s, were also dead.
"We had to extricate all four of the bodies, which were trapped or pinned in different situations," acting fire Capt. Mike Murray said.
Firefighters found the boy in the back seat unresponsive but breathing.
An ambulance from Volcano transported the boy to Ka‘u Hospital, where he was picked up by fire helicopter, which transported him to Kona Community Hospital in critical condition, Murray said.
The boy later died at the hospital, police said.
Murray said both the car and truck had extensive front-end damage, especially to the driver’s sides, indicating a head-on collision.
"It’s not often that we see four DOAs in one accident," said Murray, acknowledging it was tough for the first responders at the accident scene.
"Especially (with) children (involved), it’s hard," he said.
Murray added: "One lesson to be learned, the child was unrestrained" — not wearing a seat belt.
The five deaths bring this year’s Hawaii island traffic fatality count to seven, compared with none at the same time last year.
Police blocked off the roadway for six hours while firefighters and police responded to the accident and investigated.
