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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, January 11, 2010

Firefighters recover fallen hiker's body from Makaha Valley


Advertiser Staff

Honolulu firefighters this morning recovered the body of a hiker who fell to his death yesterday in Makaha Valley.

Fire Capt. Robert Main said four units, including the department’s Air 1 helicopter, and 12 firefighters took part in the operation.
“Because of the remote location of the body, steep terrain and heavy vegetative cover, rescue personnel were inserted at a landing zone at the base of the mountain below the hiker,” Main said in a news release.
“Rescue personnel hiked up from the landing zone to the hiker’s body, prepared it for transport and carried the body back to the landing zone, a process that took more than an hour and half. At approximately 9:35 a.m. the body was airlifted to the command post at the Mauna Olu Estates Community Center and turned over to the medical examinier.”
The hiker, believed to be in his late 20s, fell about 400 feet yesterday while rappeling from a ridge line with another hiker. Main said the man was trying to retrieve equipment he had lost during a hike earlier in the week.
The second hiker was airlifted from the ridge yesterday.
Fire rescue personnel located the body of the hiker who fell about 5 p.m. But with the body in a difficult area to reach, and with the onset of darkness, it was determined to suspend the recovery operation until this morning.