A 47-year-old Kula man was killed Sunday night when he lost control of the car he was driving on Kula Highway and hit a rock embankment.

Maui police identified the driver as Manuel Lopes III.

Lopes was driving a white 1995 Honda Civic heading north on Kula Highway at 9:45 p.m. when he lost control of the vehicle at about the 16 mile-marker in Kula.

Lopes’ car left the roadway, crashed into a rock embankment and came to rest against a guardrail. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

He was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.

The involvement of speed, drugs and alcohol are under investigation, police said.

The incident marks Maui County’s 13th traffic fatality in 2016, compared to 18 at this time last year.

System errors cited for false explosion report

For the fourth time in four days, Hawaii island firefighters responded to reports of a possible explosion and gas release at Puna Geothermal Venture that turned out to be system malfunctions, according to fire officials.

Firefighters and Hawaii County Fire Department’s hazardous materials team responded at the geothermal power plant at 2:52 a.m. Monday.

However, arriving firefighters were told by employees that there was a system malfunction and no explosion occurred and no steam was released.

Firefighters monitored the air quality in the area for two hours and did not detect any dangerous gas.