Police say a 52-year-old visitor from California apparently drowned Sunday in waters off South Kohala.
Police say a 52-year-old visitor from California apparently drowned Sunday in waters off South Kohala.
The victim has been identified as Steve Reading of Murrieta, Calif.
Police officers and Hawaii Fire Department personnel responded about 11 a.m. to a report of an unresponsive snorkeler found in waters at Anaehoomalu Bay, within Waikoloa Beach Resort.
Reading was part of a chartered tour that was a few hundred feet from the Anaehoomalu Bay shoreline when the tour crew noticed he appeared to be in distress. The crew brought him back to the tour boat and performed CPR while taking him to shore, police said.
Fire medics continued CPR and took Reading to The Queen’s North Hawaii Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:52 p.m.
A coroner’s inquest investigation has been opened and an autopsy ordered to determine the exact cause of death.
