ULUMALU, Maui — Six teenage girls in a Toyota pickup truck survived a 140-foot plunge into a gulch at a notorious hairpin turn that has been the scene of numerous other accidents.

All but one of the girls involved in the weekend crash were treated at Maui Memorial Medical Center and released. Jordan-Lee "Hoku" Lindsey, 14, remained hospitalized yesterday. All six are students at King Kekaulike High School. Lindsey was a member of Hawaiian Canoe Club's winning 14-girls crew at August's state championship in Lahaina.

Cheryl Nakila's 16-year-old daughter, Jazerlyn, was riding in the front seat of the pickup when the vehicle went off Kaupakalua Road at the Lepo Street turnoff in Ulumalu just before 9:30 p.m. Saturday. Nakila, of Hali'imaile, said the girls were coming from the King Kekaulike football game in Pukalani.

Cheryl Nakila said her daughter told her there were three girls in the truck bed and three in the cab, including Lindsey's 16-year-old sister, who was was driving. As the truck headed down the steep, dark, two-lane country road toward the blind curve, the driver told her companions the brakes had failed, Nakila said.

The driver tried to stay in her lane and maneuver through the right-hand curve, Nakila said, but the truck scraped the embankment before careening across the oncoming lane and into the gulch. Heavy brush and trees slowed the truck's descent in utter darkness. Nakila said her daughter only remembers hitting the embankment.

The teenagers didn't realize what had happened until they were able to cast a faint light from someone's cell phone, Nakila said. Lindsey, who was riding in the bed, was pinned under the truck.

The truck had been following a vehicle occupied by two teenage boys who knew the girls. When the boys noticed the truck's headlights had disappeared, they went back to look for the Toyota and came across two of the girls who had managed to climb back up to the road, Nakila said. The boys and other passersby helped three other girls to safety, while a Maui Fire Department rescue crew was needed to hoist Lindsey out of the wreckage.

"I went there (Sunday) and I cried. How could they survive? I'm just glad they were still here to tell us what happened," Nakila said.

Fran Gonzaga, who lives on Lepo Street several yards from where the truck went off the road, said the trees in the gulch were still recovering from a similar accident in recent months, and that just about three weeks ago a car barreled through her fence, bumped her house and came to a stop at her front door.

"And there was the Porsche that landed outside my kitchen window," she said.

Kaupakalua Road is a county road that travels through the scenic farm and pastureland of Kokomo, descending into the lush, wooded landscape of Kaupakalua and Ulumalu before connecting with Hana Highway. The hairpin turn at Lepo Street is one of many, and in some places the road or its bridges are wide enough for only a single vehicle.

Approaching the curve at Lepo Street, there is a sign warning motorists of a sharp turn in the road and to slow to 10 mph.

Gonzaga, who was not home at the time of Saturday's crash, said she can't recall how many times there have been collisions and other accidents at the turn, with vehicles either missing the hairpin curve on their way down the road, or bouncing off the embankment, or stalling out after going up the steep turn.

Although some residents have talked about making the turn safer, Gonzaga indicated there had been no formal movement to ask the county to put barriers or other safety measures in place. She said she would at least like to see a streetlight posted at the turn to provide better visibility.

Lloyd Fischel lives within a mile of the hairpin turn and is active in the Ha'iku Community Association, whose members live throughout the Ha'iku, Ulumalu, Kokomo and Kaupakalua region. He said in the years he has been involved with the group, there have been no complaints registered about the turn. He agrees it's tricky, but said most of the people who get in trouble there are either unfamiliar with the terrain or not paying attention to the road.

"There's no fooling around on that curve and the people who live here know that," he said.

Fischel, who owns Fragrant Orchids of Maui, favors posting two signs at 50-yard intervals warning drivers of a "dangerous turn," signage he has seen on the Mainland. But he does not want to see streetlights installed, especially since most accidents there happen during the day. He said residents of the rural area cherish their quiet country lifestyle and dark nights.

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.