HAWAII COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT
AREA I OPERATIONS BUREAU
ASSISTANT CHIEF CHARLES M. CHAI
PHONE: 961-2341
MARCH 24, 2004

MEDIA RELEASE

About 2 p.m. Saturday (March 20, 2004), Hamakua police received a report of a simmer in distress at the Waipio Valley beach. The Fire Department rescue team immediately responded and began an aerial search, but unsuccessfully concluded the search when it turned dark. The search resumed at daybreak on Sunday and Monday (March 21 and 22).

About 4:20 p.m. Monday, a witness reported observing a body along the shoreline at the east end of Waipio Valley beach. The County Fire Helicopters Rescue Unit recovered the body from the water about 5:40 p.m.

The body was positively identified as Min Koo Kang, 24, from Seoul, Korea. Kang was a student at the University of the Nations in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. The father of the victim arrived from Korea and assisted the police with the identification.

An autopsy will be conducted to determine the exact cause of death.

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