Posted at 9:16 a.m., Friday, February 9, 2007
Austrian woman is Big Isle's 6th traffic death for '07
Advertiser Staff
A 50-year-old Austrian woman killed in a single-vehicle crash yesterday on Hawai'i Belt Road has become the sixth traffic fatality on the Big Island this year, police said today.The fatality put the Big Island one ahead of the tally it had at this time last year.
The woman killed yesterday was a passenger in a 1997 Mitsubishi Montero and was not wearing a seatbelt in the 3:34 p.m. accident, police said. The Montero crashed about two-tenths of a mile west of the 75-mile marker on the Belt road.
The driver, a 48-year-old Volcano man, lost control of the vehicle, crossed the center line and ran off the left side of the road and overturned, police said.
Big Island firefighter rescue personnel found the victim on the lava field and took her to Ka'u Hospital where she was pronounced dead at 4:26 p.m. The driver was not injured.
A negligent homicide investigation was opened in the case. Police said they do not know if speed or alcohol were factors in the crash.
An autopsy will determine the woman's exact cause of death. The name of the woman has not been released yet.
