KAILUA-KONA — Police confirmed that one of the two men involved in a water rescue Friday afternoon in Keauhou Bay has died.
Gregory Crisafi, 58, Kailua-Kona, was swimming on the north end of the bay when he appeared distressed and called for help, according to the Hawaii Police Department.
Two men with Crisafi attempted to help him. One, a 62-year-old man from Bend, Oregon, went into the water to try and help. He also got into trouble. The third man went to the shore and began to call for help.
Gretchen Goo, a bystander, said Tuesday they heard shouting and at first thought it was people playing in a dinghy. But by the third shout they realized something was wrong and saw several local boys pointing toward a man waving his arms, she said.
Tom Pace, owner of the Hokukano Bayhouse across the bay, saw the man waving and tried to decipher what was going on.
He said there was some confusion, as the man was giving distress and OK signals.
He said he regrets that they didn’t respond faster.
“We lost maybe a minute in indecision,” he said, including asking onlookers if the men were friends.
When the people said they were not, he realized something was wrong.
He grabbed his paddleboard and headed over. At the same time Goo and others were shouting and waving at a passing fishing skiff, the Hokulani.
Capt. Kaui Fernandez responded and headed toward the man waving. Both Pace and Fernandez arrived around the same time. He threw a rope to the Oregon man, who grabbed on. Fernandez began pulling.
Pace went over to Crisafi, who was underwater.
Fernandez got the Oregonian, who survived the ordeal, into the skiff, then both he and Pace worked together to get Crisafi aboard.
As Fernandez raced toward the pier, Crisafi said he gave chest compressions and mouth to mouth resuscitation to Crisafi. He kept at it for what seemed like 20 minutes, until emergency medical personnel arrived and took over the responsibility.
Pace said that if the men had managed to go seaward or shoreward, they would’ve been safer, but the incident happened in a dangerous area. If they headed 30 feet out to sea they would not have had to battle the exhausting wave action, he said. And if they’d headed toward the shore they could have rested on the rocks.
Pace said Fernandez’s help greatly speeded recovery. He said that, without the skiff, he would have needed to load both men on the paddleboard and swim in, something that would have taken some time.
There is an autopsy scheduled to determine the cause of death and police are continuing an investigation.