A 70-year-old man missing for more than 24 hours in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park was found alive Sunday evening after a search that involved police, National Park personnel, a helicopter and a tracking dog.
The man, identified as David Arai of Oahu, was last seen in the Big Island’s Volcano area before he was reported missing around 12:16 p.m. on Oct. 19, according to the Hawaii Police Department. His son told KHON2 that Arai was familiar with the area’s hiking trails and often hiked alone.
Police said they treated the case as high-risk because of Arai’s age and other details gathered during the investigation. Officers eventually located his empty rental car inside the national park, prompting Hawaii Island police and park personnel to search the ground while a Hawaii Fire Department helicopter searched from above.
K-9 Trina, a 3-year-old Labrador retriever trained to track people by scent, joined the search with her handler, Officer Christopher Ross. At about 7:30 p.m., Trina located Arai on a trail roughly 2 miles from where his rental car had been found.
Ross told KHON2 that Arai was lying on his back in bushes just off the trail when they found him. Trina approached and licked his hand, the officer said.
Arai was carried back to the trailhead and taken to Hilo Benioff Medical Center for treatment for dehydration and exposure, police said in a press release.
It was the second time in two months that Trina, a Swedish-born dog trained to help find missing children and endangered adults across Hawaii, located a missing person. Last month she helped authorities find an endangered teenager in Waikoloa.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is home to Kilauea, which recently erupted for the 55th time since late 2024 after a rare two-month pause, according to Fox Weather.
