Kirk Passmore, a business owner, went missing after he wiped out in Oahu, Hawaii, while surfing, according to reports.
Officials said they are searching for Passmore, who is an experienced surfer, and who was last seen on Wednesday morning near Alligator Rock in Haleiwa, CNN reported.
Eyewitnesses told the network that Kaufman fell off his board after he was hit by another wave.
His surfboard was found on the beach.
“We’re just making assumptions at this point — when he surfaced it looked like he had broken his eardrum or maybe his neck because his feet popped up and he was facing down. He may have had vertigo, or lost his equilibrium. But I don’t think his head broke the surface, and at that point the next wave passed over him and his board broke,” surfer Jamie Sterling told the Surfing Magazine. Sterling was surfing with Passmore when the incident took place.
Sterling said that Passmore “was an experienced big-wave surfer but he could have been more prepared. You know, nowadays there are flotation vests and other safety devices that we utilize.”
His family posted a statement on the Brigham Young University-Hawaii website.
“He started coming to Hawaii when he was 14 and was an experienced and expert surfer. He was not new to big wave surfing, having surfed most of the well-known big wave locations,” it reads.
