3-year-old dies on whale watching trip
12/26/2003

HONOLULU -- A 3-year-old boy was fatally injured during a whale watching trip after the captain tried to maneuver the boat around a humpback whale and the child hit his head against the railing.

There does not appear to have been any wrongdoing by the captain during Thursday's excursion, Coast Guard officials and the tour boat's operator said Friday.

"It is a freak occurrence," said Frank Alexich, vice president of sales for Dream Cruises Hawaii, which has operated whale watching tours in the islands for nine years.

The boy, Ryker Hamilton, was with his father, Ryan Hamilton of Norfolk, Va., aboard the vessel on Thursday morning when the whale surfaced near the boat about three miles south of Oahu.

Boat captain Monroe Wightman tried to move the boat to avoid the whale and the child hit his head, Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Todd Offutt said in a statement.

A nurse onboard administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation and a helicopter took the boy off the boat, but he died later at a hospital of blunt force injuries to the head and neck, officials said.