MEDIA RELEASE

Hawaiʻi Island police have initiated a coroner’s inquest case and a public accident case in connection with two men who were pulled from the water after getting into trouble while swimming in Keauhou Bay on Friday (November 27).

The man who died has been identified as 58-year-old Gregory Crisafi of Kailua-Kona.

In response to a 3:45 p.m. call Friday, Kona Patrol learned that Crisafi had been swimming on the north side of the bay when he appeared distressed and called for help.

Two men with Cristafi, both from Oregon, attempted to assist him. One of them, a 62-year-old man from Bend, Oregon, also found himself in trouble in the water. The other returned to shore to call for help.

A Kona man on a fishing boat pulled the two men onto his boat and attempted cardio-pulmonary resuscitation until Fire Department medics arrived and took them to Kona Community Hospital.

Crisafi was pronounced dead at 4:46 p.m. An autopsy has been ordered to determine the exact cause of death.

The other man was treated for minor injuries.