FBD
07-15-2011, 02:42 PM
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/07/14/2011-07-14_calif_man_sucked_into_blowhole_at_maui_tourist_ spot_pictures_catches_victim_seco.html
Calif. man sucked into blowhole at Maui tourist spot; picture catches victim seconds before fall
http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2011/07/15/alg_boiled.jpg
A northern California man was sucked into an ocean blowhole and killed while clowning around at a popular tourist spot in Maui, authorities said.
Dozens of tourists visiting Nakalele Point, the northernmost point of Maui, watched in horror on Saturday as David Potts, 44, of San Anselmo, Calif., was swept into the area's famous geyser-like blowhole after a violent wave knocked him off his feet.
As a gush of water shot up through the hole, Potts briefly bobbed up to the surface, before being sucked below ground again, witnesses said.
"We all stared for like 30 seconds and then I realized - he's gone. He's down there," Rocco Piganelli, of La Jolla, Calif., told the Associated Press. "I felt like I was going to throw up."
Piganelli, a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines, said he and other tourists scrambled over a cliff next to the blowhole to see if the man had been washed out into the Pacific ocean.
But they never saw him.
"In my heart, I kind of knew he wasn't coming out," Piganelli said.
A helicopter search for Potts was called of on Monday, Maui police said.
Witnesses said that Potts and some friends were dancing around the hole and frolicking in its sprays before the wave hit him.
"We're watching it thinking it's crazy these guys are doing that," said Erica Meyer, whose family was on vacation with Piganelli's family.
The blowhole, listed as a " must see" in several Maui travel guides, was created by pounding surf wearing away the shore under Nakalele Point's rocky shelf.
Each wave causes giant eruptions through the hole that can reach 100 feet.
Moments before Potts was swept away, Piganelli snapped a photo of his daughter and Meyer's children.
The photo captured a man Piganelli said was Potts standing in the background, just inches from the blowhole's opening.
Seconds later, Potts was gone.
"The girl who was with him let out this horrifying scream," Piganelli said.
"It was just horrific," Meyer added. "That's the only way to describe the scene."
Calif. man sucked into blowhole at Maui tourist spot; picture catches victim seconds before fall
http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2011/07/15/alg_boiled.jpg
A northern California man was sucked into an ocean blowhole and killed while clowning around at a popular tourist spot in Maui, authorities said.
Dozens of tourists visiting Nakalele Point, the northernmost point of Maui, watched in horror on Saturday as David Potts, 44, of San Anselmo, Calif., was swept into the area's famous geyser-like blowhole after a violent wave knocked him off his feet.
As a gush of water shot up through the hole, Potts briefly bobbed up to the surface, before being sucked below ground again, witnesses said.
"We all stared for like 30 seconds and then I realized - he's gone. He's down there," Rocco Piganelli, of La Jolla, Calif., told the Associated Press. "I felt like I was going to throw up."
Piganelli, a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines, said he and other tourists scrambled over a cliff next to the blowhole to see if the man had been washed out into the Pacific ocean.
But they never saw him.
"In my heart, I kind of knew he wasn't coming out," Piganelli said.
A helicopter search for Potts was called of on Monday, Maui police said.
Witnesses said that Potts and some friends were dancing around the hole and frolicking in its sprays before the wave hit him.
"We're watching it thinking it's crazy these guys are doing that," said Erica Meyer, whose family was on vacation with Piganelli's family.
The blowhole, listed as a " must see" in several Maui travel guides, was created by pounding surf wearing away the shore under Nakalele Point's rocky shelf.
Each wave causes giant eruptions through the hole that can reach 100 feet.
Moments before Potts was swept away, Piganelli snapped a photo of his daughter and Meyer's children.
The photo captured a man Piganelli said was Potts standing in the background, just inches from the blowhole's opening.
Seconds later, Potts was gone.
"The girl who was with him let out this horrifying scream," Piganelli said.
"It was just horrific," Meyer added. "That's the only way to describe the scene."