Tourist dies after diving accident

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

A Japanese tourist died yesterday, two days after a diving accident off He'eia Small Boat Harbor left her in a coma.

The Coast Guard has launched an investigation.

The 43-year-old woman was aboard a boat operated by Kane'ohe Bay Ocean Sports on Wednesday and had been diving using an underwater breathing helmet that allows its wearer to walk on the ocean floor while an air pump on the vessel above provides a constant supply of air.

Use of the underwater breathing helmet does not require scuba certification.

When the boat returned to the harbor to meet emergency workers and firefighters, the woman was unconscious and not breathing, officials said. Noises from her lungs may have indicated the presence of fluids, paramedics said.

Emergency Medical Services workers performed CPR and helped her breathe through a tube. She was taken to Castle Medical Center, where she died yesterday at 5:11 p.m., a spokesman said.

The Coast Guard is required to investigate serious marine incidents, said Coast Guard Lt. Brenda Roderig, assistant senior investigating officer with the investigations and analysis department of the Marine Safety Office in Honolulu.

Boat owners or operators are required to report incidents in which an accident victim is hospitalized for more than 24 hours or incapacitated for 72 hours, according to Coast Guard regulations.

The investigation was launched Thursday, Roderig said. She would give no further information about the accident or the investigation.

Officials from Kane'ohe Bay Ocean Sports could not be reached for comment yesterday.

CORRECTION: The brand of underwater breathing helmet used by the tourist who drowned was not a Seawalker. The type of device was misidentified in an earlier version of this story.