A head-on crash near Coral Kingdom on Windward Oahu injured seven people Wednesday afternoon, closing Kamehameha Highway in both directions as rain fell over the area. Three patients were rushed to the hospital in serious condition, while four others were treated and transported in stable condition.
The crash happened around 3:45 p.m. near Coral Kingdom, according to the Hawaii Department of Transportation, as reported by Hawaii News Now. The outlet reports the collision was head-on and occurred during rainy weather, though the cause has not been disclosed.
Three Patients Rushed to Hospital in Serious Condition
Among the three patients transported in serious condition were a 49-year-old woman, a woman in her 60s, and a 54-year-old man, the station's report states. Four additional patients — three women and one man — were treated and transported in stable condition. Emergency Medical Services treated all seven people involved and administered advanced life support to three of the patients, per the same account.
Honolulu police reported that both lanes were blocked near 4966 Kamehameha Highway in Waikane, citing the Hawaii Department of Transportation's post on the incident. Police asked the public to avoid the area while crews worked the scene.
Multiple Agencies Respond to Scene
The Hawaii Police Department was on scene while the Hawaii Fire Department and Emergency Medical Services were en route, according to the Hawaii Department of Transportation update cited in the article. The closure affected both directions of the highway in the Windward Oahu corridor near Coral Kingdom, a stretch that has seen serious crashes before.
In July 2022, a separate head-on collision between two vehicles injured five people at roughly the same location, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. That crash, which the Honolulu Police Department said took place around 5 p.m. between Kamaka Place and Johnson Road, left a 3-year-old girl in critical condition and a 3-year-old boy in serious condition. The children had been traveling with a 38-year-old woman and a 52-year-old man, who were also seriously injured, while a 72-year-old man alone in the other vehicle was seriously hurt as well. All five patients from that crash were taken to a hospital, and the highway was likewise closed in both directions near Coral Kingdom. The two incidents are unrelated beyond their shared stretch of road.
Kamehameha Highway closures following crashes are not unique to this corridor. A March 2023 collision near Waimea Bay shut the highway in both directions for nearly two hours before it reopened, the Star-Advertiser reported at the time.
