A woman was injured and taken to the hospital Tuesday afternoon after jumping off Rainbow Falls in Hilo.
At about 1 p.m., two women in their 20s leaped off the 80-foot-high waterfall in Wailuku River State Park in the Piihonua area. Six Hawaii Fire Department units responded, including a county helicopter, rescue diver and medical unit.
Bystanders went into the river to rescue both women after their jumps, according to a written Fire Department statement.
Capt. Charles Spain of Fire Rescue at Waiakea Fire Station said he doesn’t know the extent of the woman’s injuries.
“She seemed to have a back injury. I don’t know how serious it was,” he said. “We put her on a back board, and they took her (in an ambulance) to (Hilo Medical Center).”
He said the woman was unable to walk unassisted after the jump. Her companion was uninjured, according to the statement.
Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pride of America cruise ship was in port in Hilo, and Spain said he thinks, but is “not positive,” the women are crew members. He said the women are not local residents.
“They were under the impression that everyone does it,” Spain said. “But I think people should realize that that’s not a smart thing to do because your chances of injury are extremely high, even if you make the jump. Just the impact on the water is going to cause an injury.
“There’s low visibility, so you can’t tell what’s in the water. You can’t tell whether there’s a tree hidden in the water below the falls or anywhere in the area. There’s a lot of trees that break and fall into the river and get washed downstream and could be submerged. You never know.
“So people who are jumping into the water, do it not knowing what’s in there. It’s not a smart thing to do.”
Tuesday’s incident was not the first time someone suffered an injury jumping off the picturesque waterfalls.
Samson Perez, also known as Samson Moses Kahumoku, was seriously injured June 24, 2013, after leaping off the falls. The then-37-year-old Perez, the son of slack-key guitarist Moses Kahumoku, was taken to The Queen’s Medical Center to undergo surgery.
A source told the Tribune-Herald at the time Perez was paralyzed from the fall.
“Division of State Parks does not ever recommend jumping off cliffs,” a DLNR spokesman said at that time.
And on Jan. 5, 2003, Ryan Meeker of Winona, Minn., then 23, broke his tailbone in a jump from the falls.
Meeker also was taken to Queen’s for surgery. He told a Honolulu newspaper at the time jumping from heights into water was his hobby.
“It’s probably the last time I will jump from that height,” he said.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
