PORT ANGELES — The kayaking death of Roland Abiva has been ruled an accidental salt-water drowning.
A medical condition may have made him more susceptible to drowning, according to a coroner’s report.
Abiva, 39, who lived in Graham in Pierce County, was pronounced dead at the Sophie Trettevick PHS Indian Health Center in Neah Bay on the Makah reservation Thursday.
The manner of his death was accidental and the cause was salt-water drowning, a medical examiner determined, said Mark Nichols, Clallam County prosecuting attorney, who also acts as the county coroner.
Dr. Eric Kiesel, a medical examiner in Pierce County, performed an autopsy on Abiva, and made the determination.
He also noted that there was an “apparent complication of a natural disease in a hostile environment,” Nichols said.
Nichols said the report does not indicate that Abiva’s medical condition caused the accident.
“If [Kiesel] felt there was a precipitating medical event, it would be noted,” Nichols said.
Yet, while the health condition may have no relation to the cause of the accident, poor health or a medical condition could cause a person to lose strength or black out when they most need to be conscious and able to respond — such as when they are caught in the power of the surf, according to Nichols.
The nature of Abiva’s medical condition has not been released.
Abiva was one of four founding members of the Northwest chapter of Heroes on the Water, which has provided kayak fishing trips to wounded warriors and veterans since 2012.
Six Heroes on the Water volunteers had launched an hour earlier to take three veterans out fishing during the opening day of halibut season in Neah Bay.
Abiva was not scheduled to be a part of the volunteer group on Thursday, but was planning to fish later that day, said Dino Abulencia, fellow co-founder and coordinator of the Northwest chapter of Heroes on the Water.
Abulencia said that Aiva collapsed because of his health condition.
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office said that he was knocked out of his kayak when a wave capsized the craft.
Abiva was an experienced kayak fisherman, but had been sick for a long time, Abulencia said.
“He had expressed wishes of his ashes being scattered at Hobuck,” he said Tuesday.
“We will plan to have a memorial for him at Hobuck in future,” Abulencia said, adding that no date has been set.
Heroes on the Water was founded in 2007 by Jim Dolan of Dallas to provide kayak fishing trips to wounded warriors and veterans.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
