Hawaii County firefighters located two hikers, who had to spend the night in the heavily forested area of the Puu Makaala National Area Reserve in Puna, and accompanied them to safety Friday morning.

Hawaii County fire officials said the man and woman, both in their 50’s, began the hike heading to Kulani Cone at the 5,000-foot elevation at 1 p.m. Thursday. The couple sent out a text message at 6:30 p.m. saying they were lost. However, the text message was not read until later that evening and the search was initiated at 10:30 p.m.

Fire rescue personnel searched along a marked trail and then cut a path to the couple’s last known GPS coordinates.

The search was suspended after midnight and resumed at 5:30 a.m.

The couple was located by cell phone this morning and their location was pinpointed by the fire department’s helicopter.