UPDATE: Utah Visitor Missing After Wave Sweeps Two off Rocks

UPDATE: 8:54 p.m. 1.24.17

The Maui Fire Department continued their search on Tuesday for a missing Utah man that was swept into the ocean on Monday afternoon.

Firefighters joined personnel from US Coast Guard Maui and Coast Guard Group Honolulu in searching the “Olivine Pools” area of Kahakuloa.

The joint effort enabled searchers to cover a very detailed and comprehensive search, from the missing person’s last seen point near shore, to other areas further out to sea.

Maui Fire Services Chief Edward Taomoto said, unfortunately, searchers did not spot the missing person nor find any personal articles belonging to the victim when he was washed into the sea.

MFD searched the area today with Air 1, a fire rescue boat, and an Ocean Safety watercraft.

A Nāpili and Lahaina fire company conducted shoreline searches along with members from Coast Guard Station Maui.

A Coast Guard cutter, helicopter, and fixed wing aircraft from Oahu patrolled the offshore waters.

The Maui Fire Department and US Coast Guard will be resuming the search again tomorrow.

_________

PREVIOUS POST: 

Fire rescue crews from Lahaina and Kahului responded to reports of two males that were swept into the ocean by a wave at the “Olivine Pools,” at milepost 16 of Kahekili Highway in Kahakuloa.

The incident was reported at 1:42 p.m., on Monday, Jan. 23, 2017.

Air 1 was first to arrive at 2:13 p.m. and plucked one victim, a 23-year-old Connecticut man from the water, and airlifted him to paramedics waiting on Kahekili Hwy.

Paramedics treated the man for multiple lacerations before he was flown by helicopter medevac to Maui Memorial Medical Center in stable condition.

Rescue crews spent the rest of the afternoon searching for the other male, a 34-year-old Utah man.

Crews searched with the Air 1 helicopter, a fire rescue boat and an ocean safety rescue watercraft, as well as with ground crews spotting from land, but they were not able to find the man’s body.

Rescue crews suspended their search late Monday afternoon and will resume again on Tuesday at daybreak.

The two men were standing near the water’s edge taking photos with two other women when a wave broke over the rock they were standing on and knocked the Connecticut man into the water.

Shortly after, a second wave broke over the rock and dragged the two women across the jagged lava rocks.

When they got up, the Utah man was nowhere to be found. Other witnesses reported seeing the man in the water but lost sight of him.

The two women, a 19-year-old from Mexico, and a 20-year-old from Austria, suffered minor abrasions and were treated and released at the scene.

Ladder 3 from Lahaina, Rescue 10 from Kahului and Ocean Safety personnel from D.T. Fleming Beach Park responded to the incident.

MFD 01.24.17 “Olivine Pools”

MFD 01.24.17 “Olivine Pools”

MFD 01.23.17 “Olivine Pools”

MFD 01.23.17 “Olivine Pools”

MFD 01.23.17 “Olivine Pools”