HILO — Hawaii County fire rescue personnel yesterday airlifted a lost hiker to safety from a forested area in Kalapana.

The hiker, a 22-year-old man, used a cell phone to call for help.
The man had been lost in the forest makai of the 19-mile marker on Highway 130 for three or four hours. He had no shirt, water or food and it was approaching nightfall.
Rescue personnel on a helicopter directed the hiker to a clearing, picked him up and flew him back to the highway just before 7 p.m.
The man was uninjured.