PUUNENE -- A 96-year-old Pukalani man died Sunday when the car he was driving was struck by a van in a four-vehicle crash on Haleakala Highway, police said.
The collision occurred at about 11 a.m. in mauka-bound lanes of the highway at Keahua Junction.
The man killed in the pileup was identified as Masami Nikaido.
Police said three vehicles were at a stoplight at the intersection when the 2002 Ford E150 van heading uphill struck a 2004 Toyota Echo, which was pushed into a black 2008 Nissan Sentra in front of it. A black 2010 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck in front of the black sedan also was struck and ended up across the intersection, while the Sentra and Toyota Echo were against the guardrail on the right mauka-bound shoulder.
The van ended up against the Toyota Echo and partially in the right mauka-bound lane.
With the roadway littered with glass, police closed mauka-bound lanes around the crash site to traffic, while police Highway Incident Traffic team members diverted vehicles onto the uphill inner shoulder of the highway.
The highway was completely reopened to traffic at 2:40 p.m.
Nikaido's death marks the sixth traffic fatality this year, compared with seven at the same time last year.
