The water was choppy and the wind was blowing the morning of Jan. 5 when an excited 13-year-old boy from Mongolia put on scuba equipment for the first time and ended up dead in 60 feet of water in Maunalua Bay.
“From all of the witnesses we interviewed, there was very limited visibility — between 5 and 10 feet,” said Honolulu attorney Michael Livingston. Livingston said it’s premature to disclose what happened underwater to cause the death of Temuulin Tsogt during his noncertified scuba dive with Island Divers Hawaii out of the Hawaii Kai Shopping Center.
Tsogt’s group “got in the water,” Livingston said. “The father saw his son at the surface of the water. Then the son dove and he didn’t see him again. What went on under the water at this point is probably not appropriate for me to get into at the time.”
Tsogt was reported missing at about 11:45 a.m.
Honolulu Ocean Safety lifeguards found him unresponsive about 60 feet underwater and brought him to shore at Maunalua Bay Beach Park.
Honolulu firefighters performed CPR until an ambulance arrived and took him in critical condition to a hospital, where he died.