Woman’s Body Recovered from Kīlauea Crater

Park rangers recovered the body of a 63-year-old Kea‘au woman Sunday morning from Kīlauea caldera below Steaming Bluff.

Steaming Bluff, 2008 file image courtesy USGS.

The park received a report at approximately 10 a.m. Sun., Oct. 29, about a female resident missing since Friday.

Family members traced her phone to the park, and park rangers located her vehicle at the Steam Vents parking area.

Rangers then launched a search for the woman by ground and air. At around 11:30 a.m., the woman’s body was located by personnel aboard a County of Hawai‘i helicopter about 250 feet below the caldera rim, and it was removed.

According to Chief Ranger John Broward, the woman appears to have died after falling from the edge beyond Crater Rim Trail. The area where she fell is not currently erupting. Rangers said it appeared that she left the trail and went around several barriers to access the edge.

The woman’s name is being withheld pending notification of family. An investigation is underway.