Official Report

OFFICIAL REPORT
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT

To:  All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:  Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date: Wednesday, April 29, 1998

INCIDENTS

98-167 - Hawaii Volcanoes NP (HI) - Search in Progress
Early on the morning of April 28th, the park received a report of a missing hiker in the area where lava from the volcano's on-going eruption is flowing. Schin-Dru Thurston, 26, and Stein Kretsinger had walked out to the area from the closed Kalapana Road with some friends around 11 p.m. the previous evening. Thurston and Kretsinger decided to get closer to the flow and hiked out to the west side of a littoral cone. Thurston was in the lead and called back to Kretsinger to be careful because the ground was unstable. The steam from the flows was so intense that it fogged up Kretsinger's glasses and he could no longer see well.  He suddenly realized that he was no longer able to either see or hear Thurston; he called to him, and found that Thurston had fallen. Kretsinger called back to him, but this time got no response. He left the area to get the rest of the group. They returned to the point where they thought Thurston had fallen, but could not find him and accordingly opted to seek help. They had difficulty locating their vehicle, though, and wandered around for about five hours before locating it. County dispatch received a call from a member of the group at 6:30 a.m. and notified the park. A county helicopter was airborne within 30 minutes, and rangers Gail Minami, Neil Akana and Al Aviles responded by land and began a ground search. Additional rangers, personnel from other agencies, a boat, and other helicopters soon joined the search.  The effort proved fruitless, however, and the search was called off late yesterday afternoon. Although Thurston is presumed dead, search operations will resume at first light this morning.  [Yvette Ruan, CR, HAVO, 4/28]

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