A 58-year-old New York visitor who was snorkeling in water off a south shore beach died Friday afternoon, becoming Kauai’s 17th drowning victim this year, Kauai County officials said in a news release Saturday.

Kauai County officials became alarmed back in March when the number of ocean and freshwater drownings hit 10 within a nine-week period, seven of which involved visitors to the Garden Island.

Drowning is the leading cause of death among visitors to Hawaii in the past four years, accounting for 48 percent, or 162, of all visitor deaths from 2008 to 2012, according to statistics revealed in October during the Ocean Safety and Drowning Prevention Conference in Hawaii.

The Kauai Fire Department identified the visitor who died Friday as Douglas Sposato of Stony Brook, N.Y.

Sposato had been snorkeling at about 2:25 p.m. Friday in an area fronting Lawai Beach Resort in Koloa when his brother noticed he was having difficulty.

Bystanders pulled the unresponsive man to shore and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Firefighters from Koloa station arrived and took over CPR and connected their automated external defibrillator, but he remained unresponsive.

Medics transported Sposato to Wilcox Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

On Sept. 14, an 81-year-old Colorado man was pulled from the water at Makua Beach. He had been snorkeling at Tunnels when he was spotted face down in the water. A 67-year-old Lihue woman apparently drowned Sept. 6 at Kalapaki Bay.

The Kauai Visitors Bureau, Kauai Lifeguard Association and Water Awareness Visitor Education Program met earlier this year to address the spate of drownings, and efforts were being made to ensure tourists and residents were informed of potential threats.

Those efforts included a water safety education video at Lihue Airport’s baggage claim area to remind visitors about water safety, videos on Hawaii-bound flights, training sessions for hotel and resort staffs to inform guests about hazards and beach kiosk displays by the lifeguard association.

Earlier this year, Patrick Durkin, an aquatic safety expert with the Water Awareness program, said it was the first time he had seen a high number of drownings on Kauai in a short period of time, and said that the island’s popularity has grown over the past five to 10 years.