#opihi picker

Hawai‘i Island police have identified the body found in the ocean near the cliffs off Old Government Road in the Hawaiian Paradise Park subdivision on Sunday, as 39-year-old Seth Kapiliokalani Waltjen, of Hilo.

The man had gone opihi harvesting with a friend when they were swept offshore by a wave on Thursday afternoon.

A search is underway off Hawaiʻi Island for a 40-year-old man who was picking opihi with a friend, but was swept offshore by a wave. His friend was able to make it back to shore and was rescued from the bottom of a 60-foot cliff by fire department personnel.

Fire officials say the 56-year-old Nāpili man was picking ʻopihi on the shoreline with a 28-year-old male relative when he was knocked off the rocks by a wave.

A Maui man died on Thursday in an apparent drowning while picking opihi on the coastline in East Maui.

A 33-year-old Waiehu man suffered critical injuries in an opihi picking accident at the area often referred to as the “Olivine Pools” in Kahakuloa on Wednesday afternoon.

A 38-year-old Maui man was airlifted to the hospital after falling 50 feet from a cliff while picking ʻopihi on Wednesday morning in Haʻikū, fire officials said.