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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, May 15, 2006

18-month-old loses hand in candy factory accident

Associated Press

A fundraising event at a Kalihi chocolate factory turned tragic when an 18-month-old girl had her left hand severed in an accident.

The girl was on a tour of the Menehune Mac Factory Gift Center and got her hand caught in a conveyor belt on Saturday, fire officials said.

By the time firefighters arrived, employees had bandaged the girl and retrieved her hand. Firefighters put it on ice "in case doctors are able to do anything with it," HFD Capt. Chris Ah Mook Sang said. The toddler was taken to The Queen's Medical Center. Her condition was not released.

She and her family were attending the company's Fifth Annual Mother's Day Candy Making Event, a fundraiser for the Hawai'i Children's Cancer Foundation.

Menehune Mac President Neal Arakaki said he was investigating how the accident happened.

"We feel so bad about this," he said. "This is something truly out of the ordinary. Everyone's just really shook up."

Arakaki said the factory was sanitized after the accident and that production resumed in a different area of the factory.

"We extend our condolences to the family," he said. "We're definitely going to be following up with them."