LIHUE — A four-hour search for a missing diver off of Lehua Island ended happily Friday, when the man was found alive after making his way across the channel to nearby Niihau. The diver and his wife were passengers aboard
LIHUE — A four-hour search for a missing diver off of Lehua Island ended happily Friday, when the man was found alive after making his way across the channel to nearby Niihau.
The diver and his wife were passengers aboard the Koloa-based Seasport Divers charter boat. The group was diving at Lehua, a small, uninhabited island north of Niihau. Lehua is .7 of a mile north of Niiahu.
“The diver was found on the Northeast Coast of Niihau, and we are very happy that he was found in good condition,” said Lt. Kevin Cooper, the public affairs officer for the U.S. Coast Guard’s Sector Honolulu Command Center. “It is still uncertain as to what caused him to be separated from the group and we are still talking with the dive company.”
The diver, who is reportedly a tourist, was reported missing around 10:15 a.m., according to Cooper. A helicopter and rescue boat from the Nawiliwili Coast Guard Station was dispatched to the scene.
Kauai Fire Department was called for assistance and sent Air 1 helicopter and Rescue 3 boat to join the search around 12:20 p.m. The conditions were good and the optimism remained high even after a couple of hours, Cooper said.
The search area expanded and it was a Seasport Divers vessel that spotted the diver on the Niihau around 2 p.m. A medical evaluation was not available but Cooper said it appeared the diver was not injured or in need of immediate attention.
“He was jumping up and down on the shoreline when he was spotted,” Cooper said.
Marvin Otsuji, owner of the 25-year-old Seasport Divers company, said it is still unclear how the diver got away from the group. A diver in trouble should have drifted with the current to the inside of the half-moon-shaped crater, but he went against it and outside the basin.
“He went contrary to the current and the crew thought he couldn’t go that far so fast,” Otsuji said. “He managed get around the side, saw land, and started swimming toward it with his ‘drift-sausage’ (inflatable flotation device) and made his way to shore.”
The Seasport crew exhausted the immediate search and followed protocol by contacting the Coast Guard, he said. He said their are circumstances that occur even with the best safety procedures, including crew members designated as “bubble watchers” for divers in trouble.
Otsuji said this person is an experienced diver but must have been disoriented from the luminous sun and drifted.
“Everything was in order,” he said. “It is the nature of the beast.”
A Holo Holo Charters boat altered its tour to join the search and then take the remaining Seasport passengers back to Kauai. The spouse of the missing diver remained with the search effort.
“Holo Holo was very helpful by altering their tour and adding to the search before bringing the customers back,” Otsuji said.
Otsuji was aboard the KFD Rescue 3 boat, assisting with the search.
George Thompson, owner of the 35-year-old Fathom Five diving company, said he chose not to cross the channel Friday morning, but second-guessed himself later and doesn’t question Seasport’s decision to cross the channel. He is a competitor but insists that Seasport is a reputable company with good captains and dive masters that follow the rules.
“Sometimes things happen that are not foreseeable,” Thompson said. “Marvin is top-notch and I would be the first one to talk to him if I thought there was risk involved.”
Crew members are trained to know exactly what to do when a diver goes missing, Thompson said. They are usually located within minutes and when someone is missing for a while, then an emergency beacon is sent out.
“Our job is to mitigate the risk and make it as safe as we possibly can,” he said.
Thompson said Lehua is a great diving location and that incidents like this are rare, but do happen and are usually the result of circumstances beyond control. The diving industry is self-regulated and polices itself very well, he said.
“People are always looking to blame,” he said. ‘This guy got separated from the group and how that happened I have no idea.”
The Coast Guard is crediting the excellent effort of the dive company in continuing the search alongside the Coast Guard and Kauai Fire Department, Cooper said.
In a case where a commercial company initiates a rescue the Coast Guard will automatically conduct an investigation for cause, Cooper said. It will be to determine if there was any violation of federal laws.
“In this case, an investigation will be conducted,” Cooper said.
The Coast Guard would only seek reimbursement when a rescue call was initiated by a hoax, he said. They do not normally charge for accidents.
