UPDATE: Missing South Kona Diver Identified

***Updated at 3:45 p.m.***

Police have identified a man believed to have gone missing while diving off the South Kona coastline as Jeremiah Nathan of Kealakekua.

Jeremiah Nathan. HPD photo.

Nathan, 42, was last seen in the area of Pu`uhonua o Honaunau National Historic Park at about 4 p.m. Wednesday. His vehicle was also found there.

Nathan is Caucasian, 5-foot-10 and 150 pounds, with green eyes and short brown hair. He has a tattoo across his chest with Arabic-like lettering.

He was previously erroneously identified by police as a 41-year-old Captain Cook man.

Fire department rescue crews are continuing the search for Nathan today with the assistance of the US Coast Guard.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call Officer Bradden Kimura of Kona Patrol at 326-4646, Ext. 253.

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***Posted at 9:02 a.m.***

A search was to resume at daybreak today for a man apparently missing after going diving Wednesday off a South Kona park.

According to acting Capt. Michael Tavares of the Captain Cook fire station, a male friend of the diver reported Thursday night that he was supposed to fly to the mainland at 8 a.m. that morning but apparently missed the flight, according to another friend in California.

The Kona friend then went searching for him and found his truck at the entrance to Pu`uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park, also known as “City of Refuge.” The wallet and cell phone belonging to the missing man, identified as a 41-year-old Captain Cook resident, were in the truck but his diving gear was gone.

The friend said that the man had intended to go diving on Wednesday.

After meeting with the friend at the park at 8:49 p.m. Thursday, a fire department crew searched the shoreline while Chopper 2 did an aerial search about a mile both north and south of the park before stopping because of darkness.

The search was to resume today using a boat and both of the department’s helicopters.