Posted on: Tuesday, April 30, 2002

Maui girl remains in critical condition after beach accident

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

The close-knit Maui community of Hana is sorrowful after Saturday's beach accident that left a 7-year-old girl buried in three feet of sand.

The child, identified by Maui police as Zaney Ann Kalama-Baker, remained in critical condition yesterday at Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women and Children.

Police and firefighters were called to Hamoa Beach in Hana at 6:15 p.m. to assist a child who was not breathing. They discovered that the child had been with a group of children who had dug a tunnel in the sand that collapsed while she was inside, police said.

Family members called firefighters, paramedics and neighbors who happened to drive by to help with cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Among them was Angela Eharis, a registered nurse who estimated that the child had been under the sand for eight to 12 minutes. After about 20 minutes of helping paramedics with CPR, the team detected a pulse.

She was taken by ambulance to Hana Medical Center.

By the time the child was taken by helicopter to Kapi'olani, she was breathing on her own but still unresponsive, Eharis said.