No signs lava caused park death
Advertiser Staff and News Services
VOLCANO, Hawai'i — A woman found dead Tuesday on a Kilauea lava field was a passenger on a cruise ship with her husband, who reported her missing as the ship began its 600-mile voyage to Fanning Island, authorities said.
The woman was identified by Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park officials yesterday as Jacqueline Gast, 45, of Fort Myers, Fla. She was found by a hiker Tuesday morning, about 50 yards from any active lava flow, said park ranger Mardie Lane.
The cause of death has not been determined pending an autopsy, but Lane said there were no obvious injuries and no evidence Gast came into contact with hot lava.
Gast and her husband, John, were cruising Hawai'i aboard the Norwegian Star, which left Hilo at 1 p.m. Monday. Authorities did not have information on the couple's activities during their Big Island visit or whether the woman had gone alone to the volcano or with a tour group.
John Gast reported his wife missing after the ship got under way on its journey to Fanning Island in the Republic of Kiribati, Hilo police said. The foreign stop is required by law for non-U.S. cruise ships operating in Hawai'i.
The husband is still aboard the ship, and there were no plans for him to leave before the Norwegian Star stops tomorrow at Lahaina, said Steve Hirano, Honolulu spokesman for the cruise line, which has a U.S. headquarters in Miami.
Jacqueline Gast's body was found about a half-mile north of the ranger station at the end of Chain of Craters Road, off the marked trails but still in the general area where up to thousands of visitors a day view the lava, Lane said.
"She was in an area that would be hot during the day," Lane said. "But she wasn't near any active lava flows where she was found."
Thousands of visitors have flocked to Kilauea, which has been erupting for nearly 20 years, to see the current breakout of lava that began its surface flow in May.
Park officials have warned that breathing volcanic fumes can be hazardous to those with heart and lung conditions, but Lane said rangers reported clear skies and good air quality on Monday.
Gast was described by a former neighbor as an adventurous person, a good mother and neighbor. "She was kind of risky," Eddie Rosa, 48, Gast's neighbor for about 11 years, told the Fort Myers News-Press. "She probably would've gone to see the volcano out of curiosity, but I never thought it would create this kind of situation."
Rosa said Gast had two teenage daughters and worked in a store. John Gast works as a general manager at a jewelry store, Rosa said.
Gast's death is the first reported in the park this year.
On Sept. 30, 2000, the body of 43-year-old Kirk A. Kiyota of Brighton, Colo., was found in similar circumstances, about a mile from the end of the road. He died of an apparent heart attack, park officials said.
At least five others have died from lava-viewing activities. On Nov. 5, 2000, Nancy Everett, 41, of Volcano, and Ivan Klein, 42, of Washington, D.C., were found dead near the flow front. Two others died from getting too close to the activity: Shin-Dru Thurston, 26, of Laupahoehoe, in April 1998, and Prem Nagar, of Kona, in April 1993.
A visitor from Japan died in the late 1980s when he fell on the uneven lava while hiking at night from the flow front to his car parked near Kalapana.
Kilauea, the world's most active volcano, has been erupting continuously since Jan. 3, 1983.
