The search continues Friday morning for two fishermen who were believed to have been swept into the ocean in Kau.
The search continues Friday morning for two fishermen who were believed to have been swept into the ocean in Ka‘u.
At 5:34 a.m. Thursday, family members reported that 62-year-old James Oyama, and 37-year-old Jay Jara, both of Na‘alehu, failed to return home from a shoreline fishing trip near Honuapo Bay, also known as Whittington Beach Park, the evening prior, according to the Hawaii Police Department, which has opened a missing persons investigation in connection with the overdue fishermen.
Police and Hawaii Fire Department personnel began a ground search, later locating the victims’ two trucks and their personal items on Mill Road at 6:35 a.m. A fishing pole belonging to one of the men was set-up at the shoreline in an area exposed to high surf conditions.
The fire department’s helicopter was assisted by a United States Coast Guard helicopter and a C-130 aircraft with an aerial search.
Oyama is described as being 5 feet, 9 inches tall, weighing 190 pounds, having a medium build with gray hair and brown eyes.
Jara is described as being 5 feet, 7 inches tall, weighing 140 pounds, having a medium build with brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing blue denim jeans and a blue shirt.
Anyone who may have information about this incident is asked to call the police department’s nonemergency line at 935-3311 or Officer Dane Shibuya, of the Ka‘u Patrol Division, at 939-2520.
