Select an option below to continue reading this premium story.
Already a Honolulu Star-Advertiser subscriber? Log in now to continue reading.
A Canadian man died Saturday after he was swept into the ocean near the Nakalele blowhole on Maui, county fire officials said.
The incident happened at 12:41 p.m. near mile marker 38 on Kahekili Highway in West Maui. The 48-year-old visitor from Ontario was lying on rocks near the water’s edge when he was washed into the ocean by a large wave, said fire services Chief Edward Taomoto.
At first the man was swimming, witnesses at the scene said, but at some point he became unresponsive.
At about 1 p.m. a lifeguard on a rescue watercraft arrived and found the man floating facedown about 200 feet from shore. Soon after, the Fire Department’s helicopter arrived, and rescue swimmers went into the water to help recover the victim. The man was airlifted to a grassy area off Kahekili Highway and transferred to paramedics at 1:22 p.m.
He could not be resuscitated.
Man who died in rescue attempt is ID’d
The Medical Examiner’s office has identified the man who died after trying to rescue a woman in trouble at Spitting Cave on Saturday as 23-year-old Liviu Ciuperciuc of Illinois.
Ciuperciuc disappeared while trying to help a 19-year-old woman who got into trouble after jumping into the water. He was later found 40 feet below the surface.
Fire crews brought him back to shore and performed CPR until Emergency Medical Services personnel transported him in critical condition to an emergency room, where he later died.