Updated at 6 p.m., Friday, August 3, 2001

19 hurt in Big Island tour bus accident

By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Staff Writer

GLENWOOD, Hawai'i — Nineteen people were injured — one critically —when a small tour bus ran off the Volcano Highway and landed in a drainage ditch this afternoon.

The group was traveling to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park at 12:15 p.m. when the bus swerved to avoid a car turning left into its path.

Eyewitnesses said the driver and the injured passengers, all of them Japanese tourists, were pulled from the damaged bus and taken away in four ambulances and a tour van from Jack's Tours, operator of the bus.

Ambulances took the most seriously injured to Hilo Medical Center, about 22 miles from the crash scene just mauka of the Hirano Store in Glenwood Village.

Eric Inouye, manager of the store, said he did not witness the accident but watched the police and fire rescue effort .

"They had to pry the driver out of the bus," said Inouye of the trapped 29-year-old Hilo driver.

Police did not release any names of the victims, including that of a Japanese woman reported in critical condition after suffering from head injuries. She was reported on life support tonight.

Another visitor was said to be in serious condition.

The driver was being treated for a fractured right leg and other injuries. He was reported in stable condition.

Acting Fire Capt. Warren Sumida said rescuers bent back the driver's seat to pull out the driver.

Sumida who said paramedics determined which of the injured required ambulance service first. "It was rainy and wet. I guess they were more in shock than frantic," said Sumida of the passengers.

Sumida credited a volunteer unit from Kea'au, which was the first to reach the scene. The volunteers helped speed the transfer of the injured to the hospital, he said.

The driver of the car attempting the left-hand turn was identified only as a 26-year-old woman from the Big Island. Police said she stopped after the accident.

Jack's Tours conducts tours to the national park for visitors who fly in from Honolulu to Hilo and return the same day.