7 Die in Landslide at Hawaiian Park

A landslide rained boulders on visitors to one of Hawaii’s most spectacular hiking spots, killing seven people--three of them from California--and injuring dozens, officials said Monday.

Heat-seeking devices and military search dogs did not find any more bodies Monday beneath tons of rubble at Sacred Falls State Park on the island of Oahu.

Rescuers had to dodge falling debris as they searched.

“We’re pretty much certain there are no more dead bodies under the landslide,” said Honolulu Fire Capt. Richard Soo.

Scores of hikers were taking in the view and weather at a pool beneath the park’s 90-foot falls Sunday when the landslide began 600 feet above them. Hikers and rescuers told harrowing stories about bringing victims out of the rubble. Many suffered head injuries and some lost limbs.

“There were bodies everywhere,” David Pahk, a volunteer with the Sacred Falls Assistance Program, told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. “I carried bodies live and dead, with head injuries, arms and legs broken, open skulls. Everyone was helping out.”

After flying over the area, state Department of Land and Natural Resources geologist Glenn Bauer said: “It looks like the cliff face came away.”

The dead included Aaron Bann, 31, of Placentia, Jennifer Johnson, 24, of Canoga Park, Scott Huling, 36, of Hickam Air Force Base on Oahu and Danielle Williams, 7, of Honolulu, according to the Honolulu medical examiner’s office.

The identities of three of the dead have not been made public. Officials said one is a woman from California who is presumed to have been killed, although her body has not been recovered.

Friends who live near the Placentia townhouse Bann shared with his wife, Cindy, and their 1-year-old daughter remembered him Monday as a man with a ready smile.

“He seemed like an incredibly happy man,” Jay Stoegbauer said.

Stoegbauer said Cindy Bann was believed to be among the injured.

Johnson had gone to Hawaii with her parents to attend the graduation of her brother, Mark, from Chaminade University in Honolulu on Monday night, according to a family acquaintance.

Before the ceremony, Jennifer, Mark and two friends traveled to Sacred Falls State Park to hike and take in the lush scenery, the friend said. Mark Johnson, 30, a Navy radioman first class, was critically injured in the slide.

An Anaheim physician, Dr. Geoff Scott, was hiking in the area at the time and coordinated medical efforts at the scene.

“The first thing we did was we got the people we could help, we got them out of the fall zone,” said Scott, who is chief resident in head and neck surgery at UC Irvine Medical Center. “We triaged who was sickest and basically tried to support them until the Fire Department got there.”

Thirteen of the injured remained hospitalized, including Mark Johnson and a 2-year-old boy.

The park in the lushly forested Koolau Range is about 30 miles north of Honolulu. The falls spill into a pool, which is reached by a 2.2-mile trail at the base of a 90-foot cliff.

The park has long been known as one of Hawaii’s most dangerous. Since 1970, more than a dozen people have died there in flash floods or hiking accidents.

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The Landslide

At least six people were killed and 33 hurt Sunday when car-sized boulders crashed down on hikers at Sacred Falls State Park in Hawaii. Here’s what happened: