A 25-year-old Keaau man died Wednesday after a tractor he was operating fell off a cliff and into a stream.
A 25-year-old Keaau man died Wednesday after a tractor he was operating fell off a cliff and into a stream.
Police identified him as 25-year-old Jose Luiz Hernandez-Miranda.
Shortly after 11:26 a.m., police responded to a property on Mailekea Road, which is off Kaiwiki Road in the Wainaku area of Hilo.
They learned that Hernandez-Miranda had been operating a Ford tractor on a farm when he got too close to the edge of a 12-foot cliff above a stream and fell into the stream with the tractor.
Fire Rescue personnel extricated him from the water and took him to Hilo Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 12:38 p.m.
An autopsy has been ordered.
Because the incident happened on private property, the death is not included in the Police Department’s official fatality count.