David Stewart, 57, died Saturday afternoon after swimming off the south shore of Kauai, county officials said in a release Monday.

The visitor from Washington, D.C., was swimming off of Lawai Beach Resort at around 4:05 p.m. when he apparently got into trouble, the release says.

Bystanders were performing CPR when firefighters arrived from the Koloa station. They took over resuscitation efforts and transported him to Wilcox Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

This was Kauai’s second drowning of the year. A 28-year-old man from Chicago is presumed to have drowned in February after being swept out to sea by large waves at a tide pool called Queen’s Bath on the north shore. His body was not recovered.

Civil Beat published a multi-part series on visitor safety in January, focusing on ocean safety in particular in light of a high rate of visitor drownings. It’s available here.

A Washington, D.C., man died Saturday after drowning in the waters off of Lawai Beach Resort.
A Washington, D.C., man died Saturday after drowning in the waters off of Lawai Beach Resort. Flickr: Dave and Margie Hill

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