Tourist's death a mystery
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Coast Guard and state investigators yesterday were awaiting the results of an autopsy on a 43-year-old Japanese tourist who died last week after she was pulled from the water during a diving tour that uses underwater breathing helmets.
The woman, identified as Mitsuko Fukuoka of Hamakita, Japan, had been diving Wednesday offshore of He'eia Small Boat Harbor using an underwater breathing helmet that allows its wearer to walk on the ocean floor while an air pump on a vessel above provides a constant air supply.
Fukuoka "experienced some difficulty while performing a diving operation" and "required assistance to get to the surface," said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Todd Offutt, senior investigating officer at the Marine Safety Office in Honolulu. He offered no other details about what had happened.
Fukuoka was taken to Castle Medical Center, where she lapsed into a coma and died on Friday.
Her death is believed to be the first connected with use of an underwater breathing helmet in at least four years, said Lt. Cmdr. Craig Petersen of the Coast Guard Marine Compliance Branch, 14th District.
The Coast Guard is working with investigators from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources who investigate similar incidents, and interviewed the crew, Offutt said. The cause of the incident is still under investigation, Offutt said.
"The state wants to find out so we can prevent reoccurrence," Offutt said. "The Coast Guard wants that, and obviously the company wants that as well. We're all working together to try and find out what the cause was."
The medical examiner had not determined the cause of Fukuoka's death yesterday.
The boat and the underwater tour were operated by Morning Star Cruises and Kane'ohe Bay Ocean Sports. Morning Star Cruises declined to comment, and Kane'ohe Bay Ocean Sports officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Joe Pickard, who offers tours using underwater breathing helmets in Kane'ohe Bay from his Club Kona diving business, said they are popular and considered safer than other diving-related activities such as scuba or snorkeling.
Pickard said his underwater tours are very popular with Japanese and Mainland tourists, and get about 30 customers a day during the peak months of July, August and September. He said there are about six diving companies in the state using underwater breathing helmets.
"It's a very safe form of underwater diving activity," Pickard said. "People don't usually dive in deep water, as they do in scuba. In Kane'ohe Bay, we're in water anywhere from 10 to 15 feet."
Pickard said he's had no accidents with the underwater breathing helmets since he started the tours in 1997. He said he has had divers as young as 8 and as old as 80.
"I'm not aware of any person having an accident with this type of diving equipment," he said.
Pickard said the only problems divers had encountered with the underwater breathing helmets was slight disorientation for first-time divers, and divers having difficulty "clearing their ears" underwater.
Divers wear a helmet attached to an air cord linked to a mechanical air compressor and filtering system on the surface. The surface air is filtered and then pumped down to the divers.
The underwater breathing helmet's operation is like "taking a bucket of air, turning it upside down underwater, putting a hose to it and breathing air." Pickard said. Exhaled air is blown out through exhaust ports on the helmet.
Unless the compressor shuts down, it would be difficult for water to get into the helmet, Pickard said. And even if the compressor did break, there is usually a 15- to 20-minute backup system that would allow the divers to exit the water safely.
If major problems arise, divers can remove their helmets and float to the surface, Pickard said. The divers are monitored by safety swimmers and divers, he said.
Pickard said operators are trained in first aid and ocean emergencies, but require no special certification.
Reach Brandon Masuoka at 535-8110 or bmasuoka@honoluluadvertiser.com.
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.
