Moment man was sucked into Maui blow hole while on holiday with his son and girlfriend who has cancer

Dancing and frolicking in the spray, this is the moment seconds before a California man was sucked into a Maui blow hole to his death.



David Potts, 44, was holidaying on the Hawaiian island with his infant son and long-term girlfriend as she prepared to undergo surgery for breast cancer, when he was hit by a freak wave.



Holidaymakers watched in horror as a large wave struck the San Anselmo man from behind and pushed him into the blow hole.



Tragedy: Rocco Piganelli took a photo of his daughter and friends in front of the blow hole seconds before David Potts was sucked to his death

Blowhole: David Potts stands in the spray moments before he was hit by a large wave

Mr Potts briefly came up to the surface, before tragically disappearing again when the next wave hit.



The general contractor was on the island with his girlfriend Tika Hick as she gathered strength before surgery for breast cancer next week.

Miss Hick had been undergoing chemotherapy for the last few months and the family had hoped the trip would give them some respite before she underwent a double mastectomy next week.



'It's just too much and we barely know where to begin or what to do first,' family friend Lisa Christensen, who was holidaying with the couple told the San Anselmo-Fairfax Patch.



The couple had been living together for 15 years and had recently had a son.

Witnesses said that they watched the man dancing around in the spray of the blow hole moments before the wave knocked him down.

Holiday: David Potts was on the Hawaiian island with his long-term girlfriend Tika Hick as she prepared to go into hospital to undergo surgery for breast cancer

Rocco Piganelli, said he stared in horror as he watched a large wave push the tourist into the hole off Nakalele Point seconds after he took a photo of his daughter and friends in front of it.



The image shows Mr Potts in shorts standing next to the blow hole behind the curtain of water.



'We all stared for like 30 seconds and then I realised - he's gone. He's down there,' said Mr Piganelli. 'I felt like I was going to throw up.'



Tourists scrambled over a cliff to look for the man out in the ocean as powerful waves crashed violently against sharp rocks, but he could not be seen.

Bystanders said they had to prevent the girlfriend’s brother, who was also holidaying on the island, from jumping in to find Mr Potts.

Maui police said they have officially called off the search for the man, who went missing on Saturday afternoon.



The blowhole, which is a popular tourist attraction, was created by pounding surf that undercut and wore away a lava shelf.

