A 49-year-old man visiting Kaua’i from Lexington, Ohio, strolled right past the “strong current” sign county lifeguards had posted earlier in the day along Kealia Beach. In what probably seemed like only a matter of a few seconds later, the
A 49-year-old man visiting Kaua’i from Lexington, Ohio, strolled right past the “strong current” sign county lifeguards had posted earlier in the day along Kealia Beach.
In what probably seemed like only a matter of a few seconds later, the man was in trouble, being sucked seaward by a rip current near the mouth of the Kapaa Stream.
While lifeguard Mark McKamey sprinted 300 meters down the beach from the lifeguard tower with his rescue tube in tow, fellow lifeguard Pono Pananganan dialed 911, then followed with the oxygen tank, according to Kalani Vierra, acting ocean safety officer supervisor.
In the meantime, surfer Tyson Summers, of Kapa’a, had brought the exhausted swimmer onto his board, where the visitor was short of breath and had swallowed lots of water.
The unidentified swimmer likely would have drowned had it not been for Summers and the efforts of the lifeguards, Vierra said.
McKamey got the visitor to shore, Pananganan administered oxygen, and firefighters and the American Medical Response ambulance crews responded.
The ambulance brought the visitor to Wilcox Memorial Hospital Thursday afternoon. There, he was treated and released.
At Wailua Beach Friday evening, a surfer suffered an injury to his leg. According to police, the man was surfing when he had to paddle in.
Kaua’i Fire Department battalion chief Bob Kaden said the patient was sitting on the beach by the time American Medical Response arrived to treat the injured surfer.
