Several motorcycles crashed in the Kailua-bound lanes of Pali Highway yesterday afternoon, leaving one rider in critical condition and another in serious condition, said Bryan Cheplic, spokesman for the city’s Emergency Services Department.

City paramedics took both riders to a trauma center, Cheplic said. He described both riders as males in their 20s.

The collision was reported on the town side of the Pali tunnels at 1:57 p.m.

"We had multiple motorcycles down," Cheplic said.

Police temporarily closed both Kailua-bound lanes of the Pali about a half-mile above Waokanaka Drive and reopened them at 3:53 p.m.

Two weekends earlier, on Oct. 16, a Kailua woman, 22, was killed on the Pali when her motorcycle hit the concrete median on the Windward side of the tunnels. She was thrown from the motorcycle and run over by another motorcycle.

A second rider, an Aiea man, 23, was injured in the incident.

The two motorcycles appeared to be among at least six heading toward town about 12:40 p.m. just past St. Stephen’s Diocesan Center.