HPD Identifies Potential Drowning Victim

Big Island authorities are looking into what may have been a drowning in South Kohala on Sunday, June 13.

At approximately 11:01 a.m., South Kohala patrol officers and members of the Hawai’i Fire Department responded to Anaehoomalu Bay, located within the Waikoloa Beach Resort, on a 9-1-1 call of an unresponsive male snorkeler.

The snorkeler was part of a chartered tour, a few hundred feet from the Anaehoomalu Bay shore line, when the tour crew noticed he appeared to be in distress. The crew brought him back to the tour boat and performed cardio-pulmonary resuscitation while transporting him to shore. Hawai’i Fire Department medics continued CPR and transported the victim to Queen’s North Hawai’i Community Hospital.  The unresponsive man was pronounced dead at 7:52 p.m. He was identified as 52-year-old Steve Reading of Murrieta, California.

Police have initiated a coroner’s inquest investigation relative to this incident and have ordered an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death.