LAUPAHOEHOE, Hawaii (KHON2) — On Tuesday morning, Sept. 30, a County of Hawai‘i Hele-On bus crashed in Laupāhoehoe on Hawai‘i Island along Māmalahoa Highway, also known as Highway 19.
Hāmākua patrol officers said they responded to the call at 4:56 a.m. at mile marker 25.5.
Police said the bus was picking up passengers at a lookout when it rolled backward, went through a guardrail, and fell down a hill, landing on its side.
The driver, a 66-year-old man from Hilo, had stopped to pick up passengers at Laupāhoehoe Scenic Lookout, said police.
He told police that he put the bus in park to check for seating for the new passengers and had gotten out of the bus when the crash happened.
The bus rolled “backwards onto the highway, went through a guardrail and down an embankment” and came to a rest on the passenger side of the vehicle, according to police.
Police and fire crews’ emergency responders came to the aid of those impacted by the incident and said that all 22 passengers were taken to Hilo Benioff Medical Center.
“The most serious injury reported was a minor laceration to the hand of an elderly male passenger”, said police.
Police are still looking into what caused the accident. No one was seriously hurt.