A 65-year-old fisherman apparently drowned yesterday while setting a fishing net several hundred feet off shore at Kapaa, a Kauai County spokeswoman said.

The Hanamaulu man started drifting away while setting the net with two friends about 300 feet off Hotel Coral Reef about 4:45 p.m., said Kauai spokeswoman Mary Daubert.

His friends continued searching after losing sight of him, and one swam to shore for help.
Police officers and firefighters conducted an extensive ground, water, and air search, but a bystander found the man floating face down off Pono Kai Resort.

Firefighters performed CPR on the man until paramedics arrived, then took him to Wilcox Memorial Hospital, where he died.