Massive waves wipe out group of men on rocky shoreline of Oahu’s North Shore

PUPUKEA (HawaiiNewsNow) – Massive waves wiped out a group of men on the rocky shoreline near Sharks Cove on Oahu’s North Shore Friday.
Matt Moore was shooting video of the rising surf at Ke Iki Beach at about 2:30 p.m. when he swung around to catch three men on the rocks.
“And the next set came in and I panned back over and I go, ‘this is bad, call 911′,” Moore recalled.
Moore and others watched as the three men got rolled on the jagged rocks. They emerged, surf in time for another huge wave.
“Then one more hit and that was it,” Moore said. “I could see one guy. The other two guys were gone.”
Witnesses could be heard screaming for them to move as back-to-back sets crashed down.
After some tense moments, the three were barely able to make it back to shore, bloodied and bruised.
Both EMS and Honolulu Ocean Safety responded.
EMS treated them for multiple abrasions from head to toe, but they declined transport to an emergency room.
The men were extremely lucky.
“You fall on this reef here, you’re cut. There’s no, like, skinned knee. It’s lacerations. It’s like going through a meat grinder,” said Moore.
“It’s like you went in a match with a tiger. And you’re not going to end up pretty with this one,” said Ocean Safety Lt. Kyle Foyle, who was patrolling at Shark’s Cove when the incident happened.
“Especially large waves like these are washing you over, the chances of drowning or injury is very high,” said Foyle.
A high surf warning is in effect for north and west shores.
As of 5:30 p.m., lifeguards made 15 total rescues and 10,000 preventative actions along the North Shore as a massive swell rolled in.
“Of all the places in the world, this is where you don’t want to turn your back, especially when the warnings are up and there’s caution tape and there’s signs. There’s things to keep people back. But people don’t want to read. They just go anyway,” said Moore.
“The funny thing is those guys were local,” said Foyle. “So it goes to show you, you know, it doesn’t matter if you’re a tourist or local, it’s like the mother ocean don’t care,” said Foyle.
More large to extra-large swells are expected again next week from Wednesday onward.
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