Explosions leave islanders scared but unscathed

Shaken Hawaii runners and spectators described scenes of panic and confusion in the moments after two fatal explosions near the finish line at Monday’s Boston Marathon.

Several said the blasts sounded like cannons going off.

"It really reminded me of what I’ve seen on the news from September 11th or the Mideast," said marathon spectator Kamu­ela Yong of Wai­ma­nalo, who was standing with his wife "dead center" between the two blasts — about 20 to 30 yards from each. "We’re really shaken up."

Chris Benjamin, president and chief operating officer of A&B Properties Inc., had finished the Boston Marathon about eight minutes before the explosions occurred, and was 50 to 100 yards away from the blast site near the finish line.

His family was in the stands across the street from one of the explosions.

The group was tired, shaken but otherwise OK when reached Monday afternoon.

"It’s such a tragedy, and someone chose a day like this to do it," Benjamin said.

About 50 Hawaii runners participated in the marathon, and several more Hawaii residents cheered on loved ones running the 26.2-mile course.

There were no immediate reports that any Hawaii residents were among those injured in the blasts.

"All the Hawaii people are accounted for," said Michael Kasa­moto, one of the leaders of the Hawaii contingent. Kasa­moto finished his eighth Boston Marathon.

According to the event’s website, 57 people listed themselves as being from Hawaii. Nine either did not start or did not reach the halfway point of the 26.2-mile race. Seven others got as far as midway but did not finish.

Those who did run spent much of the day attempting to reach out to loved ones. With cellphone lines down or overloaded, many turned to social media.

"The (cell) lines have been flooded, so we have had a hard time making calls," said runner Emmie Sai­gusa of Mili­lani. "We’ve been trying to post on Facebook when we know someone is OK."

Punahou School was able to confirm that its athletic director, Jeaney Garcia, is fine.

Benjamin, similarly, sent out an email to his office to say he and his family escaped injury.

Reached later in the day, Benjamin said he was still trying to wrap his head around the day’s events.

"Just as I was getting my (finisher’s) medal, I heard the explosion and saw the smoke," he said.

Benjamin was in the marathon with a team of runners raising funds for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. He was running in honor of his daughter, Natalie, who has type 1 diabetes.

Natalie and Benjamin’s wife, Melissa, were making their way down from the stands to meet up with Benjamin when the first blast occurred. They assumed it was part of the festivities, until it was followed by a second explosion.

The blasts "sounded like a loud cannon," Melissa Benjamin said.

It was about 15 nerve-wracking minutes until the Benjamins were reunited in a family waiting area.

"It was very distressing," Melissa Benjamin said, "because we didn’t know if everyone was safe."

Rod Huddleston, 54, of Hono­lulu was about 200 yards from the finish line when he heard the explosion. He was standing with four other Hawaii finishers and their family members.

"We were talking and all of a sudden, kaboom!" he said. "We were all in shock."

Colin Miwa, 57, also of Hono­lulu, had crossed the finish line about 15 minutes before the blasts.

When he heard the explosions, he immediately knew something was wrong.

"The runners were trying to get out of the area," he said. "We didn’t know what was happening."

Yong said after the second explosion he and his wife ran into a nearby department store with a crowd of others.

"Everybody started to run," he said in a telephone interview with the Star-Advertiser. "People were knocking over mannequins to get away."

Yong said he had no idea what was happening, "but we just wanted to get away."

Yong, a 28-year-old postdoctoral fellow in applied mathematics at Arizona State University, arrived in Boston last week for a six-week visiting scholar position at MIT.

He said minutes before the first blast occurred, he and his wife, 26, were standing "right in the explosion zone." They decided to walk closer to the finish line and were making their way there when the blasts happened.

Yong, his voice shaking, said the events of the day are still running through his mind.

"Literally, 10 minutes earlier we were right in the explosion zone," he said.

Also among those watching the marathon was Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s 18-year-old daughter, Maya, who called her parents quickly Monday to let them know she is fine.

While Maya, a freshman at Tufts University in Massachusetts, did not hear the explosion, the mayor said, she did see the smoke and emergency crews hurriedly responding.

Dennis Kurtis, assistant to the executive race director of the Hono­lulu Marathon, was in a viewing stand near the finish line when the first blast happened, and his fiancee had completed the course just seconds earlier.

"As I’m racing toward her, the second one goes off," he said. "Then all pandemonium broke loose. People were running wild everywhere and screaming. People were trying to get under buses, trying to get under tables."

He called the experience "surreal," and said it raises serious questions about the safety of any large marathon in the United States, including the Hono­lulu Marathon.

"We have all these what-ifs going on in our heads," he said. "How can we be secure in Hono­lulu? What about New York? Anybody can do this at any time, any place."

Aina Haina runner Rachel Ross told the Star-Advertiser that she was jolted from her post-marathon celebration lunch by "two quick-succession booms."

Ross, who had completed the 26.2-mile course through the city about an hour earlier, said, "It sounded like one of those 18-wheeler (trucks) going over the big steel plates in the road — you know that ‘thump! thump!’ — right in a row."

She said she was about two blocks away from the scene, relaxing with friends at the time of the blasts.

"Right after that there were a ton of police and fire everywhere," Ross said. "The texts from friends started pouring in. There must have been at least 70, everybody asking, ‘Are you all right?’"

Ross, who completed her second Boston Marathon in three hours, three minutes, said that "things like your time seem very unimportant when people are hurt."

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Star-Advertiser reporter Marcel Honoré contributed to this report.