A 21-year-old Waipahu man died yesterday while free diving off Kaena Point in what another free diver described as “;bad conditions”; for diving.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner's Office identified the man as Cullen Santos of Waipahu.

Santos had been free diving with friends, but his friends couldn't find him for about 30 minutes after returning to shore and called for help at about 9:50 a.m., said fire Capt. Debbi Eleneki.

Firefighters, the Coast Guard and personnel from the city Ocean Safety Division launched a search, and at about 1:10 p.m. found Santos' body on the Mokuleia side of Kaena Point, Eleneki said.

A bystander said a fire helicopter used a net to lift the body off a reef in a bay past the end of Farrington Highway.

Heather Sweetser, a cheerleading coach at Waipahu High School, drove to Kaena Point after learning of the accident.

Sweetser wept as she recalled that Santos' younger sister would graduate from Waipahu High School today. “;This is awful, awful,”; she said.

She knew Santos before he graduated from Waipahu two years ago and said he recently got a job and that things in his life were falling into place. “;He was always nice and well-mannered,”; she said.

After rescuers found Santos' body, another diver was reported missing about two hours later at the same location. The man was a Navy diver who went after his buoy, which had drifted away, police said.

About 20 minutes later about 3:50 p.m., the man was found unharmed on Mokuleia Army Beach a short distance from Kaena Point, police said.

During the search for Santos, Brennan Wheatley was free diving with friends in the same area. Wheatley, of Mililani, said his friends started searching near shore after hearing someone was missing.

When Santos was found, he saw a fire helicopter lift his body from a reef about 100 yards from shore.

He said the ocean conditions for free diving were poor yesterday, with strong currents and murky water limiting visibility to only about 15 feet, and surging waves that pushed him against the reef.