Whereas it isn’t clear what led to the incident, park officers mentioned that the deceased man was positioned in “steep and unsafe terrain.”
Kilauea’s caldera (Photograph: ©fitopardo / Second through Getty)
Printed March 4, 2026 01:41PM
A 33-year-old Hawaii resident died late final month after coming into a closed space on the east facet of Kilauea caldera in Hawaii Volcanoes Nationwide Park, the Nationwide Park Service mentioned this week.
Whereas Kilauea is energetic, the volcano was not erupting on February 26 when the incident occurred. Whereas it’s not clear what brought on the fatality, the NPS mentioned in a information launch that “search and rescue personnel performed operations in a single day in steep and unsafe terrain” earlier than finding the sufferer on February 27 and transporting him by helicopter to Hilo Benioff Medical Middle, the place workers pronounced him useless.
The NPS is investigating the incident. The company mentioned that it could not launch the deceased’s title for privateness causes.
Based in 1916, Hawaii Volcanoes Nationwide Park comprises two of the 5 volcanoes that make up the massive island of Hawaii: Kilauea and Mauna Loa. Mauna Loa, the Earth’s largest energetic volcano, has not erupted since late 2022. Kilauea, in distinction, has erupted on and off over the previous 12 months, drawing crowds of sightseers who come to witness its lava fountains and spewing steam vents. In 2018, the U.S. Geological Survey named it probably the most harmful volcano in the USA. Some 1.4 million folks visited the park in 2024, the latest 12 months for which statistics can be found.
Through the years, the park’s rugged terrain has been the positioning of a handful of customer deaths and accidents. In January 2022, a 75-year-old man died after falling greater than 100 toes from the rim of Kilauea’s caldera. And in 2019, a 32-year-old U.S. soldier suffered severe accidents after hopping a security railing to get a greater look into the caldera and falling 70 toes from a cliff.
