A 71-year-old man died after falling down a lava tube in his back yard in Hilo, Hawaii, police said on Wednesday.
The accident occurred on Monday in Kaumana in Hilo, the Hawaii Police Department said.
Authorities made the discovery during a welfare check at the residence following reports that the man had not been seen or heard from in days.
“It appeared that he had fallen through a soft area of ground into a lava tube on his property,” the department said in a statement. Authorities believe the man was trimming branches in his yard when he fell some 22 feet below the surface, Maj. Robert Wagner said, reported news site Big Island Now.
Police located the victim after spotting a lava tube shaft, about two feet wide and more than 20 feet deep, on the property. The Hawaii Fire Department pulled the man out of the hole and he was taken to Hilo Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, the statement says.
An autopsy revealed the man died as a result of injuries caused by falling. The death is under investigation and no foul play is suspected, police said.
Authorities are not releasing the victim’s name until his family has been notified and a positive identification is made, the department said.
They are typically formed during periods of high volcanic activity when molten lava currents form subterranean rivers that may flow for weeks or months until they solidify and form tunnels. Sometimes, those tunnels have holes in the roofs that are just below or at ground level.
Hawaii has many lava tubes, especially the eastern part of the Island near Hilo, where the Mauna Loa volcano is still active and where the extensive Kaumana cave system was formed during the 1880-1881 series of eruptions of Mauna Loa. Investigators suspect the lava tunnel in the man’s backyard is just a branch of that same system, reported the Washington Post.
Lava tunnels are rarely the cause of accidents, let alone fatal ones, but they do occur.
