A 65-year-old female pedestrian was struck and killed by a tour bus this morning at Mahukona and Kona streets on the mauka-Diamond Head end of Ala Moana Center.

Honolulu Emergency Medical Services said the woman was hit around 8:20 a.m. and pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

Honolulu police remained at the scene investigating for several hours, and the Travel Plaza Transportation tour bus was towed away from Mahukona Street by late morning.

Further information was not immediately available because Ala Moana Center security was blocking media access to the site, saying the accident was on a private road.

“We are very saddened by the accident that occurred this morning on Mahukona Street,” Francis Cofran, general manager of Ala Moana Center, said in a written statement this afternoon. “We extend our sincerest condolences to the family of the victim. Ala Moana Center is cooperating with the Honolulu Police Department as they continue their investigation.”

Yujiro Kuwabara, president of Travel Plaza Transportation, issued a similar statement offering condolences and saying the company was cooperating with HPD.

The company also said that the driver involved has been with TPT since April 2011 and has had a commercial driver license since 1984, with “no prior incidents on his record.”

TPT officials said that the driver was on his way to pick up passengers at the Aqua Palms Waikiki at 9 a.m. There were no passengers on the bus at the time of the accident.