A Waialua woman tried her best to avoid a collision with a Dodge minivan on Kamehameha Highway near Waimea Bay Monday night, but wound up in a head-on crash that left her seriously injured and her 10-month-old granddaughter barely clinging to life, the woman's ex-husband and baby's maternal grandfather said yesterday.

Darin Awong, an adult corrections officer at the state's Halawa high-security prison, said he was at work Monday night when he got a telephone call following the 9:10 p.m. incident that sent him rushing to The Queen's Medical Center, where his ex-wife and granddaughter were taken by helicopter.

"I was able to talk with my ex-wife in the emergency room," Awong said. "She told me she was heading for Hale'iwa with the baby when she saw a van speeding toward her," Awong said. "She said it was raining and that the van came around a bend and was in her lane."

Awong said his ex-wife told him she swerved into the oncoming traffic lane to try to avoid the van only to have the van driver swerve back into his lane at the same time, resulting in the head-on collision.

Awong said his ex-wife was listed in serious but stable condition at Queen's this morning with leg and hip injuries and a broken sternum.

City paramedics said the baby, who was in a child-restraint seat when her grandmother's Honda collided with the van, had no vital signs when they arrived at the scene but revived after being given CPR.

Awong said his granddaughter remained in a coma yesterday morning, was attached to a respirator and was "unresponsive."

"The doctors told me things don't look good for her," Awong said. He said his ex-wife had been awarded legal guardianship of the infant.

Police traffic investigators said speeding and the use of alcohol by the van driver, a 55-year-old North Shore man, appeared to be contributing factors in the crash. The van driver was also taken by helicopter to Queen's in serious condition.

Two passengers in the van, a 14-year-old boy and 20-year-old man, were taken to Wahiawa General Hospital and were listed in fair condition upon arrival.

Police investigators did not know if the driver of either vehicle or the van passengers were wearing seat belts. The child-restraint seat with the baby inside was on the front passenger seat during the crash, investigators said.

Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com.