By Wendy Osher

Officials with Hawaiian Airlines say Flight 24 left Maui at 11:18 a.m. on Friday, May 1, 2015 for Oakland, and returned to the Maui airport soon after departure due to an odor of fumes in the cabin. The flight crew declared an emergency and landed at Kahului Airport at 11:50 a.m. All customers were evacuated via emergency slides, according to airline officials.

+ SWIPE LEFT OR RIGHT SWIPE LEFT OR RIGHT

There were 224 customers and 10 crew members onboard at the time.

Hawaiian Airlines has since confirmed that two passengers have been taken to the local hospital with minor injuries.

SPONSORED VIDEO

“We apologize for the disruption to our customers. Safety is our highest priority and we were pleased with the swift and decisive actions of the crew. All our team members are now focused on taking care of our customers and seeing them to their final destination as swiftly as possible,” said airline spokesperson Alison Croyle in an email communication to Maui Now.

An investigation is currently underway to determine the source of the odor.

Airline representatives say all customers are being provided options to be re-accommodated on a new aircraft from Maui to Oakland: HA1024 scheduled to depart at 10:15 p.m. and arrive at 6:20 a.m. PT.

The original flight was scheduled to arrive in Oakland at 7:20 p.m. PT.

The airline is are also providing overnight accommodations to customers if they prefer to remain on Maui, and will re-accommodate them on flights leaving tomorrow. Airline officials say they will be refunding airfare for all affected passengers.

The Maui airport is currently operational. Two HA Flights from North America – Flight 29 from Seattle to Maui scheduled to arrive at 1:15 p.m. and Flight 41 from San Francisco to Maui scheduled to arrive at 12:50 p.m. – have been diverted into Honolulu. Flight 29 arrived in HNL at 1:15 p.m. and Flight 41 arrived in HNL at 1:03 p.m. They are refueling and will depart for Maui shortly.

***Video Credit: Lori Prieto.

____

Original Post: Emergency crews are on the scene of an emergency plane landing at Kahului Airport. Initial reports indicate that a 260 passenger Hawaiian Airlines plane landed at Kahului Airport with an emergency evacuation taking place. Initial reports also indicate the plane came in with smoke coming from the cabin. Four emergency slides were deployed.

***More details will be posted as they become available.