(BIVN) – Two people are dead following a Tuesday morning car crash on the Daniel K. Inouye Highway.

The cross-island highway was closed in both directions for hours, as police investigated the incident.

From a Hawaiʻi Police Department news release issued on Tuesday evening:

At approximately 11:00 a.m., South Hilo Patrol officers, along with personnel from the Hawai‘i Fire Department and Pōhakuloa Fire and Emergency Services, responded to a report of a head-on collision near the 26-mile marker.

Police determined that a 2011 Toyota Corolla four-door sedan traveling east (Hilo-bound) was overtaking a vehicle and struck a westbound (Kona-bound) 2016 Hyundai Tucson multipurpose vehicle head-on.

Medical personnel began life-saving measures on the driver of the Hyundai, 34-year-old from Virginia, but he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased at 11:38 a.m. His identity is being withheld at this time pending notification of the family.

The driver of the Toyota sedan, identified as 70-year-old Todd Matsushita of Hilo, was located unresponsive at the scene. He was transported to the Hilo Benioff Medical Center where he was pronounced deceased at 12:28 p.m.

Autopsies have been ordered to determine the exact causes of deaths.

Speed and reckless driving are believed to be contributing factors in the crash.

Police say the Area I Traffic Enforcement Unit is continuing the investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Officer Laurence Davis at (808) 961-2391 or via email at Laurence.Davis@hawaiipolice.gov.

Tipsters may also call the department’s non-emergency line at (808) 935-3311.

Police noted that this is the 6th and 7th traffic fatality on Hawai‘i Island in 2026, compared to 12 traffic fatalities this same time last year.