Man Dies After Suspected Drowning By End of the World

A Holualoa man is dead after a suspected drowning in Keauhou this morning.

At approximately 9:38 a.m., Hawai‘i County Fire Department received a call about a distressed swimmer at End of the World, or Lekeke Bay. According to Hawa‘ii County Police, the victim, later identified as a 75-year-old man, had jumped in the water to retrieve a backpack.

When emergency crews arrived on scene, they walked to the shoreline heading north while additional personnel walked in from Sheraton Kona Resort & Spa at Keauhou Bay heading south.

Crews located the Holualoa man and found canoe paddlers had loaded him onto their double-hull canoe and were heading toward Keauhou Pier.

Officials say ambulance personnel were staged at the pier to rendezvous with the paddlers. Once the man was with emergency crews, life-saving measures were performed.

The man was taken to Kona Community Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.