Two scuba-diving deaths have occurred, one in South Korea and the other on Hawaii Island – close to where an attempted murder took place on a snorkelling tour-boat the following day.
A male scuba diver in his 50s died off the coast of Tongyeong on 16 April, according to Korea Coast Guard. He was one of a buddy-pair who failed to surface as scheduled from a boat-dive that had started at 11.30am.
The emergency services were alerted just after 1pm and launched a search operation involving aircraft and patrol vessels near Bijindo Island.
Tongyeong Coast Guard officers located the first diver, a man in his 30s, within 25 minutes of the call. They recovered him from rocks about 400m from where he had been expected to surface, and reported him to be in stable condition.
His buddy was not found until around 2.45pm. He was in cardiac arrest, about 500m from the same area, and was taken to hospital while paramedics attempted resuscitation, but was later pronounced dead.
Hawaiian incidents
Meanwhile Hawaii police say they are continuing to investigate the “possible drowning” of 26-year-old scuba diver Charles Hutchinson of Honolulu on 15 April.
Kona patrol officers responded shortly after mid-day to a report of a scuba diver in distress on a fishing vessel in Honokohau harbour, which is located in Kailua-Kona on Hawaii Island’s west coast.
Hutchinson had been scuba-diving offshore at a site near the international airport when he got into difficulties, according to a witnesss. He had been brought aboard the boat but became unresponsive, despite the application of CPR and a defibrillator.
The boat had brought Hutchinson to the harbour, and Hawaii Fire Department personnel continued life-saving measures as they transported him to Kona Community Hospital, but he remained in critical condition. He was pronounced dead about 50 minutes after the initial call.
Police initiated a coroner’s inquest investigation and ordered a post mortem examination to determine the exact cause of Hutchinson’s death.
Captain stabbed
Also at Honokōhau harbour the following day (16 April), 21-year-old Avery Nissen from Kansas was arrested for attempted murder after stabbing the captain of a fishing-boat carrying passengers on a snorkelling tour.
Hawaii Police reported that at 3.21pm Kona patrol officers had gone to the harbour to meet the vessel as it returned from a three-hour trip.
UPDATE 19 April: Stabbed snorkel-boat captain went back to rescue assailant
Witnesses reported that Nissen had stabbed the 62-year-old captain in the lower abdomen with a fishing knife, also cutting his head and hands, before he could be restrained by other snorkellers on the boat. The motive for the assault was unknown.
The captain was taken to the same hospital as Hutchinson the day before, and was said to remain in stable condition.
Nissen has been charged with second-degree attempted murder and both first- and second-degree assault, with bail set at $1.57 million. He is set to appear before Kona District Court on Monday, 20 April.
