Posted on: Wednesday, March 2, 2005

Suicide ruled in drowning on whale-watching tour

By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer

The city Department of the Medical Examiner has concluded that a visitor from Japan who jumped into the ocean off Waikiki while on a whale watching tour Monday morning was intent on taking his own life.

Officials identified the man yesterday as Naoki Yamada, 24, of Tokyo. The cause of death was listed as "asphyxiation due to suicidal drowning" and the manner of death was listed as "suicide."

The officials declined to say what the basis was for finding the death a suicide.

Shortly after the American Dream returned to its Kewalo Basin berth Monday, a passenger who watched Yamada remove his shoes and jump from the boat said that he made little or no effort to save himself and did not appear to cooperate with crew members who jumped into the water to try to rescue him.

The boat returned to shore at 10:31 a.m., and city firefighters and paramedics performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Yamada on the back deck of the boat until he was rushed to Straub Hospital, where he died about an hour later.

The U.S. Coast Guard is conducting its own investigation.

Lt. Cmdr. Todd Offutt said he could not comment specifically on Yamada's death until the probe is completed.

However, when a maritime incident results in a fatality, the Coast Guard typically interviews crew members and passengers, Offutt said. The vessel's operating procedures and maintenance records will be reviewed and the results of the investigation will be forwarded to the officer in charge of marine inspections within the Coast Guard district where the incident took place.

Offutt could not estimate how long the investigation was likely to take.

"These things can take from days to weeks to months to years depending on the complexity of the case," he said.

Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-7412.