KAHANA — A pickup truck collided with a tour van at a bend in the road at Kahana Bay yesterday, sending 22 people to O'ahu hospitals.

Most were not seriously injured, officials said. But the truck's driver, a 34-year-old Hau'ula man, was taken by helicopter to The Queen's Medical Center, where he was in guarded condition, police officer Wilson Aguinaldo said.

A 57-year-old woman who was in the van also was taken to Queen's and was in serious condition, according to Emergency Medical Services.

The TP Transportation van, carrying 20 sightseers and its driver, was traveling south on Kamehameha Highway when a northbound Ford pickup truck crossed the center line and hit the van, Aguinaldo said.

The crash happened about 1:30 p.m. at the highway's intersection with Trout Farm Road. Twenty people were examined and released after being taken to Castle, St. Francis, Kuakini and Straub hospitals, Aguinaldo said. Most complained of neck pain, he said.

"Some of them were taken merely as a precaution," said fire department spokesman Capt. Emmit Kane.

May Au, a resident of Trout Farm Road, said many accidents have happened at that curve in the road.

"That curve is not as casual a turn as you think it is when you're coming this way," she said.

The truck driver's legs were pinned in the vehicle, Au said.

Vernon Soga, who lives on the beach side of the highway, said, "When there's accidents, you can hear the brakes and then the bang. I never hear the braking (this time)."

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.