Visitor Airlifted After Falling 30 Feet Off East Maui Cliff

Rescue, Maui Now graphic.

By Wendy Osher

Fire rescue crews on Maui airlifted a 52-year-old woman from Puaʻa Kaʻa State Wayside Park in East Maui after she fell about 30-feet from a cliff on Tuesday, officials said.

The incident was reported at 11:27 a.m. on Tuesday, April 29, 2014, within the park, about 300-yards off the Hāna Highway, and about three pools upstream, according to Maui Fire Captain Lionel Montalvo.

When first responders arrived on scene, Captain Montalvo said they found the female visitor from Ohio laying in a shallow pool.

Due to “extremely muddy” trail conditions and dangerous terrain, rescue personnel opted against carrying the woman out by foot, and dispatched a rescue helicopter to airlift the woman to a landing zone set up on the Hāna Highway, said Captain Montalvo.

According to department reports, family members told authorities that the woman slipped and fell backwards, free-falling about 30-feet below onto a rocky area.

The woman was transported by Hāna ambulance to the Keʻanae Ballpark where a Maui Medevac helicopter was waiting to transport the woman to the Maui Memorial Medical Center.

The woman’s condition was unavailable at last report.

Crews responding to the scene included Engine-7 out of Hāna and Rescue-10 out of Kahului.