Updated at 10:51 a.m., Thursday, March 8, 2007
Coast Guard identifies drowned Hilo-based officer
Advertiser Staff
The Coast Guard has identified a 20-year-old Coast Guardsman who apparently drowned yesterday afternoon while swimming in the Wailuku River in the South Hilo area of the Big Island as Christian Starr of Warrenville, Ill.Hawai'i County Fire Department officials said they received a call at about 4:20 p.m. that a swimmer was missing. A fire crew was sent to the Kaiulani Street bridge where three of Starr's friends told firefighters that he had jumped off the falls river, came up to the surface, waved for help then went back under the water and did not resurface.
Three Fire Department divers found Starr's body in about 45 feet of water near the Slides Falls area and loaded it into a life net that was lowered into the river by the department's helicopter.
Starr's body was airlifted back up to street level and then taken by county paramedics to Hilo Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Marsha Delaney said Starr was assigned to the Coast Guard Cutter Kiska, a 110-foot patrol boat stationed in Hilo.
Delaney said the Kiska's close-knit crew of 17 was "very hard hit by this tragedy."
Starr was a petty officer third-class boatswain's mate, Delaney said.
