Posted on: Monday, August 20, 2001

Man rescued at Diamond Head

Advertiser Staff

Firefighters rescued a 33-year-old tourist yesterday from a precarious hold on the outside of Diamond Head crater.

Rescue One Capt. Ray Lum said the man had scaled Diamond Head from the lighthouse side and was headed toward the pill box that tops the trail inside of the crater.

When the man became stranded several hundred feet below the pill box, he blew a whistle, and a bystander called Honolulu Fire Department shortly after 3 p.m.

The HFD helicopter was out of service for maintenance at the time.

Lum said firefighters walked the trail to the pill box, then one rescuer rappelled to the stranded man. "He was hanging on for his life," Lum said.

The rescuer hooked the man to a safety harness and took him to a safer ledge, Lum said.

At 5:30 p.m., the helicopter returned to service, and the crew used a net to remove the man from the ledge. The man was unhurt.