Swimmer dies near Portlock surf spot

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

One man is dead and another in serious condition after they got into trouble while swimming near the China Wall surfing spot near Portlock yesterday.

The names of the two were not released; the dead man was 20 years old, police said.

Fire Department spokes-man Capt. Emmit Kane said the ocean was choppy and that the men ran into trouble about 3 p.m.

Van Whiteman said he was working on a pool at a Hanapepe Loop home when he heard a man shouting for help. He and two gardeners ran to the ocean and saw a man about 70 feet offshore.

"There was one guy in the water screaming for help. He was saying, 'There's somebody on the bottom, there's somebody on the bottom,'" Whiteman said. He said he ran back to the house and told someone to call for help, then jumped into the ocean to help the man.

Whiteman, 41, said a gardener threw a life ring in the water and Whiteman placed the floatation device around the man. By then, the man was lapsing between consciousness and unconsciousness.

"I just did what I could do and just grabbed the first guy I saw and it's a good thing because that guy probably wouldn't have made it either because he was in real bad shape," Whiteman said.

He said another man dived in and helped pull the man onto the rocks.

Whiteman said there was no sign of the other man.

A fire rescue crew, along with the Air One helicopter, city lifeguards and a Coast Guard helicopter, searched for the missing man. At about 4 p.m. the man's body was found 300 yards away from where the other man was rescued, Kane said.

Whiteman said ocean conditions were so bad that he also was worried about his own safety.

"I'm a pretty good swimmer, though, and it seemed like a risk I had to take," Whiteman said.

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8025.