Skydiver suffers critical injuries

A 41-year-old man was airlifted to North Hawaii Community Hospital in critical condition Sunday morning after a skydiving accident in North Kohala.

According to a written Fire Department statement, firefighters, emergency medical personnel and a county helicopter were dispatched at about 11:15 a.m. to a vacant lot mauka of Upolu Airport after the skydiver sustained “multiple-system trauma injuries” from a “hard landing.”

Responders found the man being attended to by bystanders. According to the lead skydiving instructor, there might have been a malfunction with the skydiver’s parachute.