KAHAKULOA - Two Mainland tourists suffered minor injuries after the car they were in went over a 100-foot cliff near the Makamakaole Gulch area on Kahekili Highway early Tuesday morning, fire officials said.
Both men were taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center's emergency room to be treated for some bruises and scratches. They were both walking and talking to first responders, fire officials said.
One man, who is from South Carolina, told fire officials that the car went over around 2:30 a.m. The man, in his 20s, left his friend, a man in his 30s from Lafayette, Calif., in the car and started hiking out. It took the South Carolina man about an hour to hike up the 100-foot cliff.
A local resident found the South Carolina man on the side of the road at about 5:30 a.m. The local man and the visitor then went to the area where the car landed.
A Wailuku fire crew along with the Kahului rescue crews and the fire department's Air One helicopter were dispatched to the area at Mile Marker 10 at 5:28 a.m.
The rescue crew secured a landing zone in a pasture near the cliff. The helicopter along with rescue personnel airlifted the California man from the car to the landing zone.
