Police have identified two women who died Friday in a two-vehicle traffic crash in Kailua Kona as 70-year-old Takako Oikawa, of Kanagawa, Japan, and 69-year-old Michiko Ono of Tokyo.
Officers responding to a 4:33 p.m. call determined that a westbound 2016 Nissan sedan driven by a 69-year-old man from Japan crossed the centerline and struck a 20128 2018 GMC pickup truck driven by a 32-year-old Kailua-Kona man head-on.
The two women were taken to Kona Community Hospital where Ono was pronounced dead 5:55 p.m. and Oikawa was pronounced dead at 7:55 p.m., Friday.
The driver of the sedan and a male passenger remain in in serious condition at the hospital. The driver of the pickup truck remains in the hospital in guarded condition.
Police think inattention was a factor in the crash, but it’s not immediately known if alcohol was a factor.
Autopsies have been ordered to determine the exact causes of death.
The deaths are the 13th and 14th official traffic fatalities this year compared to 18 at this time last year.