A missing Big Island fisherman has died after being hit by a wave and swept into the ocean off South Point Saturday.
A three-day search was mounted by the Coast Guard and Hawaii County Fire Department for 29-year-old Pahala resident Ceasare Moses. His body was found by the fire department’s helicopter at 6:50 a.m. today off South Point, said the Hawaii Police Department.
According to the Fire Department, the fisherman was retrieving a net when he was swept out to sea around 2:52 p.m. Saturday. Friends on shore unsuccessfully tried to give him a floatation device. Witnesses on the beach said they lost sight of him approximately 200 yards off shore and he was drifting west.
Fire rescue personnel used two helicopters and a rescue boat to conduct aerial and underwater searches up to 1 mile offshore of Moses’ last known location. Coast Guard also conducted an aerial and ocean search, covering 1 to 17 miles offshore, as well as deployed three drift buoys.