USS Arizona Memorial reopening date to be announced
HONOLULU — Repairs to the USS Arizona Memorial in Honolulu are progressing, but officials have not yet set a date to reopen the tourist attraction.
The National Park Service plans next week to announce the reopening date, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Thursday.
A malfunction with the concrete dock’s anchoring system forced the closure of the memorial for the past 15 months.
Exceptionally high tides in 2017 are believed to have dislodged concrete blocks sunk into the sediment of Pearl Harbor and connected by chains to the dock.
Park employees Thursday installed a visitor ramp for walk-on visits to the 105-foot floating dock. Workers this week also reinstalled the memorial’s bridge spanning 30 feet and weighing 4 tons.
The more than $2.1 million repair also included the installation last month of 12 new straps to anchor the boat landing dock.
Nearly 1.8 million people visited the landmark in 2018. Park service spokesman Jay Blount said there has been “no point since May 2018 when this happened that there’s not been work being conducted” on the repairs.
“It’s a very complicated process that involves many steps, and it’s not as simple as going out and conducting the work in bhana few months,” Blount said.
There were 1,177 lives lost on the Arizona in the Japanese surprise attack at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
Safety board looking into Honolulu
plane landing
HONOLULU — Seven people were taken to the hospital Thursday after smoke filled the cabin of a Hawaiian Airlines flight from California to Hawaii.
Hawaiian Airlines says 184 passengers and seven crew members used evacuation slides to get off the plane after it declared an in-flight emergency and landed in Honolulu.
Jon Snook, Hawaiian Airlines chief operating officer, said smoke was first detected on Hawaiian Airlines Flight 47 from Oakland, California, about 20 minutes prior to landing as the plane began to descend.
American Medical Response spokesman James Ireland said a total of 11 patients had breathing complaints and seven were taken to the hospital with respiratory problems.
Ireland said the youngest patient taken to the hospital was a 9-month-old. He said another older child was also taken to the hospital and the rest were adults. All injuries were considered minor.
Snook said there was visible smoke in the cabin and a smoke indication in the cargo hold set off a warning in the cockpit, which prompted the emergency landing. He said there were no visible flames anywhere on the plane.
An automatic fire suppression system was activated in the cargo hold, Snook said.
The National Transportation Safety Board will be notified and conduct an investigation. The Federal Aviation Administration will also investigate, said spokesman Allen Kenitzer.
Firefighters said it took the passengers just 30 to 45 seconds to exit the aircraft.
Kauai horse carcass proving hard
to clean up
LIHUE — Hawaii officials are seeking the best way to remove a horse carcass that’s lodged in beach rocks, a report said.
The dead animal on Kauai’s Aliomanu Beach is decaying near the shoreline, The Garden Island reported Thursday.
Kauai County officials did not supply a timeline Wednesday, but said they are working on removal strategies with homeowners and animal specialists.
The horse appears to have been dead for several days, making removal “extremely challenging” due to deterioration, said Deputy County Engineer Lyle Tabata.
“Its location along the rocky shoreline prevents heavy equipment from reaching it,” Tabata said.
Under Hawaii law, clearing up debris or unsanitary conditions on shores and beaches above the high-water mark is the county’s responsibility.
Resident Evelin Kekesi said she reported the carcass Monday, but said it had been on the beach for at least five days before her report.
“I seriously worried we might get sick from it,” Kekesi said in a written statement to the newspaper.
“When the tide comes up, the dead horse is half submerged in the water. The smell could probably attract sharks,” she said. “Someone needs to do something.”
From wire sources
