Police: Hawaii Zip Line Tower Collapsed Before

A police report says the Big Island zip line tower that collapsed and sent a worker plunging to his death had experienced a similar collapse eight weeks prior.

The report on the Sept. 21 accident that killed 36-year-old Ted Callaway also says a pair of stabilizing anchors failed to keep the zip line platform from collapsing. Callaway and a co-worker were in the process of testing a zip line north of Hilo when the tower collapsed and Callaway plunged 200 feet to his death.

Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported Tuesday that Det. Wendall Carter wrote in the report that two 12-foot long auger anchors had been pulled out of the ground. He wrote that the cause of the accident was anchor failure and that platform utility poles weren’t buried deep enough.