Wall collapse in Kailua kills man, injures others

KAILUA, Hawaii (KHON2) — Tragedy in Kailua Friday afternoon, Dec. 30, when a retaining wall collapsed on several people and leaving one man dead.

The call was sent out to 911 just before noon.

“When we got on board, we noticed that rescue was already in progress by HFD. There was a total of six people involved in the incident. As far as we know, two were not injured at all; they were minor. There were three serious but stable patients and one that was pronounced dead at the scene,” Honolulu Emergency Medical Services paramedic, Felimon Juliano said.

According to the Honolulu Fire Department, the wall was 15 feet high and behind a home, which complicated getting to the scene.

“It was a very difficult area to get to, to get equipment to remove the debris. So, personnel worked together, removed the debris and were able to initially get to the first two trapped persons at approximately 12:13 p.m.,” HFD acting assistant chief Kevin Mokulehua said.

But, one person remained trapped until 1:35 p.m.

“They transported care to emergency medical services, and they then continued to work on removing the last person who was trapped deeper within the debris. They were able to remove that person. Unfortunately, that person was pronounced deceased today,” acting chief Mokulehua said.

HFD said they do not know what was happening at the wall or if any work was being done on it when the accident occurred.

“So it was heavy blue gravel and a lot of red dirt. A lot of heavy, very heavy material. Debris that had to be removed,” Mokulehua said.

KHON2 reached out to a construction company that was on the scene as well as the city and county to see if work was being done, but calls have not been returned as of this writing.