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Alaska man latest to die while snorkeling off Maui

An 80-year-old visitor from Alaska died today after he was pulled from the ocean on South Maui, becoming the latest in a string of Valley Isle visitors to die while snorkeling.

The man had gone with a family member to Ulua Beach in Wailea, but was snorkeling alone about 10:15 a.m. when teenage bodyboarders found him floating face down about 50 feet from shore, said Maui Fire Department spokesman Edward Taomoto.

The bodyboarders brought him to the beach where other beachgoers began CPR.

Firefighters arrived about 10:20 a.m. and continued life support measures, but the man died at the beach.

He was visiting from Homer, Alaska, Taomoto said.

He added that the ocean was very rough at the time with shore break face heights of six to seven feet.

The man was the 10th ocean-related death in Maui in less than six weeks and the sixth snorkeler — all of them visitors — to die in the same period.

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