Police have opened a missing persons investigation in connection with two overdue fishermen believed to have been swept into the ocean in Ka‘u.
At 5:34 a.m. Thursday morning, family members reported that 62-year-old James Oyama, and 37-year-old Jay Jara, both of Naalehu, failed to return home from a shoreline fishing trip near Honuʻapo Bay the evening prior.
Police and Hawaii Fire Department personnel began a ground search, later locating the victims’ two trucks and their personal items on Mill Road at 6:35 a.m. that same morning. A fishing pole belonging to one of the men was set-up at the shoreline in an area exposed to high surf conditions.
The fire department’s helicopter was assisted by a United States Coast Guard (USCG) helicopter and C-130 aircraft with an aerial search.
The search is now in its second day.
Oyama is described as 5-foot-9, 190 pounds, with a medium build, gray hair and brown eyes.
Jara is described as 5-foot-7, 140 pounds, with a medium build, brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing blue denim jeans and a blue shirt.
Anyone with information is asked to call the police Department’s non-emergency line at 935-3311 or Crime Stoppers at 961-8300.