Pair of diving fatalities add to Hawaii’s high drowning count
Two male divers reported missing were pronounced dead at Velzyland Beach on Oahu early Sunday morning after rescuers recovered their unresponsive bodies from the ocean, adding to concerns about drownings in Hawaii, which the most recent data shows has the nation’s second-highest resident drowning rate.
That rate is according to the state Department of Health, which reports that Hawaii was behind only Alaska in the rate of resident drowning fatalities among all 50 states from 2013 to 2017.
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The latest drownings left a 32-year-old man and a 28-year-old man dead, according to the Honolulu Police Department. The divers’ identities were not immediately released.
They had already been missing for several hours when the Honolulu Fire Department received a 911 call at about 3:40 a.m. Sunday. HFD sent five units staffed with 16 personnel. Firefighters reported seeing a submerged dive light about 150 feet from shore that was not moving, so they dived underwater and retrieved an unresponsive diver with the dive light attached, and brought him to shore. He was transferred to the care of EMS at 4:42 a.m.
The search resumed for a second diver in the same area with an Air 1 helicopter providing aerial support and inserting rescuers with scuba-diving equipment to search underwater and provide overhead lighting for spotters on board conducting a visual search. The second unresponsive diver was found and brought to shore, where he was transferred to the care of EMS at 6:49 a.m.
DOH data shows that from 2009 to 2018, ocean drowning was the leading cause of death from fatal injuries for visitors in Hawaii. For residents it was the fifth-highest cause behind suicide, falls, poisoning and motor vehicles. There were an average of 71 ocean drownings a year during the period, and the trend is generally increasing.
Of the 712 ocean drownings during that nine-year period, free diving accounted for 46 deaths, the fifth-highest cause of fatal ocean drownings behind snorkeling, swimming, unknown reasons and surfing bodyboarding.
