The identities of three visitors who apparently drowned Sunday in a pair of incidents were released yesterday by the Kaua‘i Police Department. The 74-year-old victim in the incident near Kaua‘i Sands in Kapa‘a was identified as Hiroaki Kinjo, 74, from
The identities of three visitors who apparently drowned Sunday in a pair of incidents were released yesterday by the Kaua‘i Police Department.
The 74-year-old victim in the incident near Kaua‘i Sands in Kapa‘a was identified as Hiroaki Kinjo, 74, from Japan.
Kaua‘i Police Capt. Alejandre Quibilan said Sunday that emergency dispatch received a call at 2:54 p.m., and attempts to resuscitate Kinjo, who had reportedly been snorkeling, were unsuccessful.
Police Dispatch received the call, notifying them of an unresponsive swimmer that was brought to shore in front of the Lae Nani, a condominium, according to a county news release.
Rescue specialists from the Lihu‘e fire station and medics responded. When they arrived at the scene, bystanders were performing CPR on the man.
The first-responders took over and continued CPR en route to Wilcox Hospital, where the man was pronounced dead.
In the other incident, sisters-in-law Tonya Cataldo, 39, of Parker, Colo., and Heather Westphal, 33, of Washington, D.C., were walking along a ledge at Queen’s Bath in Princeville when a large wave swept them out to sea, according to a county press release.
Westphal had been serving as manager of Member Marketing for the Fairfax, Va.-based International Association of Fire Chiefs, according to Communications Director Edie Clark.
Cataldo was reportedly the registrar of Clear Sky Elementary school in Castle Rock, Colo. According to a biography on the school’s Web site,
Cataldo was a long-term resident of the area and her two children are students at the school where she worked.
One of the victim’s husbands attempted to rescue them, but the current was so strong that he returned to shore.
Firefighters from the Hanalei station and lifeguards from the Hanalei tower responded.
Two of the firefighters entered the water and swam out to retrieve one of the victims and waited until lifeguards arrived on a Jet Ski. The lifeguards were transporting the first victim when they found the second victim some 75 to 100 yards away.
Both victims were taken to the beach fronting Princeville, where awaiting medics transported them to Hanalei fire station. The victims were later transported to Borthwick Mortuary.
The Queen’s Bath is a natural pool carved into a lava shelf along a rocky shoreline that is most often enjoyed in the summer when the North Shore seas are calmer.
The National Weather Service had announced a high surf advisory on Sunday.
Yesterday, a 25-year-old visitor from Poland drowned off of Hanakapi‘ai beach, according to a county press release, the fourth drowning in the ocean surrounding Kaua‘i in two days.
• Michael Levine, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or via e-mail at mlevine@kauaipubco.com
