Volcano and Disaster Risk

A 33-year-old Hawaiʻi man died after entering a closed section of the Kīlauea caldera inside Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park on Feb. 26, prompting an overnight search-and-rescue effort in steep, unstable terrain, park officials said. Rangers and rescue teams located him the next day, airlifted him out on Feb. 27, and transported him to Hilo Benioff Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead; his name has not been released pending family privacy. The incident comes amid a surge of visitors drawn by Kīlauea’s ongoing eruption, even though the active eruption area and parts of the caldera remain off limits because of unstable cliff edges, hidden cracks and other volcanic hazards. Park officials and local eruption trackers say they are seeing more people intentionally crossing barriers to film themselves near lava for social media, and they cite multiple recent trespassing cases and at least one serious fall as evidence that the problem is growing. The National Park Service is again urging visitors to obey warning signs, stay on marked trails and overlooks, and avoid restricted zones despite online pressure for dramatic footage.