Two men were in critical condition Sunday afternoon after separate near-drowning incidents at Makaha and Maili Beach.
On Saturday a toddler almost drowned in the Waimea River, a man nearly drowned in a Chinatown stream and a Colorado man nearly drowned on Kauai.
Around 1 p.m. Sunday, Emergency Medical Services and Honolulu Fire Department rescue crews helped a man believed to be in his 60s who was found floating in a tide pool off the Makaha shoreline. He was transported to an area hospital.
Just before 4 p.m. a man in his 20s was pulled from the ocean off Maili Beach. Lifeguards said they saw the man treading water and floating on his back earlier but noticed him face down when they checked on him later.
They performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation until EMS arrived and took him to Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center.
Meanwhile, a 3-year-old Oahu boy was in serious condition after he was pulled from the Waimea River on Oahu’s North Shore.
Lifeguards had warned the gathering of adults and children not to venture into the river Saturday but were ignored, said Jim Howe, operations chief for the city’s Ocean Safety Division.
"We’ve been cautioning people about going into that river," Howe said. "The river’s not running, but it drops off real rapidly behind a steep bank. It’s not a swimming pool."
The parents had been taking shifts watching the children play in the river, Howe said, and one woman went to get another woman to take over around 3:15 p.m.
"In just the minute that she was gone, that’s when the boy went under," Howe said. "Another mom came back to take over and went into the water and kicked him. That’s how she found the little boy on the bottom."
On Kauai, meanwhile, a 69-year-old Colorado man who was found floating face down off Kauai’s Brennecke’s Beach was in critical condition Sunday at the Queen’s Medical Center, Kauai officials said.
The man was brought to shore by beachgoers Saturday afternoon, and a bystander and a lifeguard administered CPR until Kauai firefighters and medics arrived, officials said.
Firefighters were called around 2:10 p.m.
The victim was transported to Wilcox Memorial Hospital, then flown to Honolulu on Saturday night.
Also Saturday, a man was in critical condition after he was found floating face down in Nuuanu Stream in Chinatown.
Honolulu fire Capt. Carlton Yamada said firefighters were dispatched at about 3:30 p.m. Saturday after a bystander noticed the man in the water and went into the stream to keep the man’s head above water until emergency responders could arrive.
He said firefighters entered the stream near River and Pauahi streets, brought the man up a ladder and turned him over to paramedics.
The man, who appeared to be in his 50s, had a pulse but was not breathing, he said.
An EMS supervisor said the man was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
Yamada there were no witnesses who saw how the man ended up in the water. He was apparently in a deep part of the stream, away from the wall.
