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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, May 22, 2010

Missing diver found dead on Oahu's North Shore

Advertiser Staff

The body of a free diver reported missing this morning off Kaena Point was found this afternoon.

County lifeguards on personal watercraft, searching along with firefighters and the U.S. Coast Guard, found the diver on the Waialua side of Kaena Point, said Honolulu Fire Department spokeswoman Debbi Eleneki.

Bryan Cheplic, spokesman for the city's Emergency Services Department, said paramedics pronounced the man dead at 1:57 p.m.

The man, believed to be in his 20s, had been free diving with another man.

Conditions were windy today, said Pat Johnson, owner of Deep Ecology, a North Shore dive shop.

"It' s not a place we commercially take divers to. It's too unknown for commercial divers."

The search began about 9 a.m. today, according to the Coast Guard.

Firefighters used their helicopter and boat to assist in the search.