Authorities are investigating an explosion that seriously injured a 29-year-old female graduate student Wednesday at the Pacific Ocean Sciences and Technology building on the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus.
Honolulu fire Capt. David Jenkins said the incident occurred at about 5:50 p.m. in the building at 1686 East-West Road. The woman was in a basement laboratory when the explosion occurred, he said.
Jenkins said bystanders brought the woman out of the building and she was transferred to paramedics, who took her to a hospital. Emergency Medical Services said the woman was in serious condition with an arm injury and possible facial burns.
The building was evacuated as firefighters investigated to determine the hazards in the basement, he said.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Robbery in Puna investigated
Hawaii County police are looking for witnesses to a Puna robbery that occurred Tuesday.
A 57-year-old man reported that while walking on Orchidland Drive in the Orchidland Estates subdivision, two men got out of a car, assaulted him and stole his belongings.
The man went by private vehicle to the Hilo Medical Center, where he was treated for his injuries and released.
The suspects are described as about 5-foot-7 or 5-foot-8, police said.
The vehicle was a dark-colored Honda four-door sedan.
Big Isle rattled by small quake
A small earthquake rattled Hawaii island Wednesday, but there were no reports of damage.
The quake, magnitude-3.3, had an epicenter 29 miles east-southeast of Kailua-Kona and 39 miles west-southwest of Hilo, on the flanks of Mauna Loa.
The quake struck at 11:57 a.m. at a depth of 1.7 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
At least four slightly larger quakes shook the so-called Ring of Fire around the Pacific Wednesday.
A quake with magnitude 4.9 happened at 1:28 a.m. Hawaii time in a tectonic area known as the East Pacific Rise, 1,240 miles north of Easter Island (Rapa Nui.)
A magnitude-5.6 quake struck at 3:10 a.m. Hawaii time, south of Mindanao in the Philippines.
A magnitude-4.5 earthquake struck at 9:01 a.m. Hawaii time, just west of Russia’s Kuril Islands and a magnitude-4.1 quake struck at 1:13 p.m. just south of the western Aleutian Islands.
