By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer
Firefighters yesterday found the body of an 18-year-old University of Hawai‘i student from Oregon who drowned after disappearing in high surf near China Wall off Portlock on Saturday.
Authorities declined to identify the man yesterday but friends identified him as James Letaw, 18, of Eugene, Ore.
Officers said the man had been swimming and diving before he was swept off the rocks by waves. A search was called off late Saturday night.
Search for the missing swimmer resumed at 6:14 a.m. yesterday, with crews from Engine 34 at Hawai‘i Kai walking the shoreline and operating a rescue boat.
Shortly after 9 a.m., searchers spotted a body in the water. The rescue boat crew retrieved the body and brought it to the Maunalua Beach Park boat ramp, where anxious friends were waiting.
Fire Capt. Richard Soo, a spokesman for the department, said firefighters respond to swimmers in trouble with head or leg injuries near China Wall three or four times a month.
"It’s a popular spot for teenagers and college students and military — young people who sometimes seem to consider themselves immortal," he said.
"Unfortunately, not too many people know how dangerous it really is. It’s not like Sandy Beach, which has a reputation.
"The hazard there is sort of like a reverse blowhole — the surf comes into a cove and blows out sideways instead of shooting straight up. Because you are in a cove, you lose a sense of what’s happening outside, and as the water conditions get higher and more treacherous, you’re not always aware of big sets coming in."
Novices watching the water during calm intervals see more experienced swimmers there and decide they, too, can dive off the cliffs into the cove, Soo said.
The search began Saturday night after bystanders and Portlock residents called 911 around 6:45 p.m., reporting that two young men had been swimming together, and that one had been injured and another was missing.
They treated the wounds of the first man, Sean Olsen, 21, who was taken to Straub Hospital for treatment of minor injuries and released.
Soo said firefighters arrived and began searching the area by boat, and a Coast Guard helicopter was called in to assist.
The Coast Guard said the helicopter crew searched Maunalua Bay and the coastline with night-vision goggles until 8:50 p.m., when the helicopter had to return to base to assess damage caused by a collision with a bird.
Soo said firefighters continued to search by boat until about 9:45 p.m.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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