Maui News

11-Year-Old Boy Swept into Wailuku River Rescued, Unharmed

July 23, 2016, 5:59 PM HST
* Updated July 24, 6:23 AM

Listen to this Article
1 minuteLoading Audio... Article will play after ad...

Playing in :00

SWIPE LEFT OR RIGHT

Click here for video of the swift water rescue reported late this afternoon at the Wailuku River (ʻĪao Stream).

TS Darby Updates are posted here: http://mauinow.com/?p=205341

Fire rescue crews airlifted an 11-year-old Paukūkalo boy and his father from the Wailuku River (ʻĪao Stream) on Saturday, July 23, 2016,

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD

Crews got the call at 3:23 p.m. and responded to a young boy that was reported to be stranded on an island in the Wailuku River (ʻĪao Stream), near Sack-n-Save in Paukūkalo.

Wailuku firefighters arrived at 3:30 p.m. and saw the child and an adult male on a dry island in the middle of Wailuku River (ʻĪao Stream). Bystanders were attempting a rescue with a garden hose thrown to them from the side of the stream. Crews told them to stay on the island until the fire department’s helicopter could arrive.

Air 1 airlifted the adult and child to a landing zone on the mauka side of Waiehu Beach Road. Paramedics checked them out and released them at the scene, with the boy suffering only minor abrasions.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD

The 11-year-old boy was playing in the river with her older sister in a calmer part of the stream. He tried to go after his boogie board as it was floating away, and got swept in by the fast flowing water. After the sister ran home and came back with their father, the boy’s father entered the stream and walked out to his son on the island.

Two engine companies and a rescue crew from Wailuku and Kahului, along with Air 1, responded to the rescue.