After five days of searching, Big Island firefighters yesterday found a missing swimmer in an area commonly called Boiling Pots.

Rescuers searching by air found the man floating on the surface of the Wailuku River at 9:30 a.m. It took about two hours to rappel down the cliff to bring him out of the water, said Battalion Chief Aaron Arbles.

The man's body was found in the second pond of the Boiling Pots areas, about 100 yards downstream from where 24-year-old Ryan Ritzel, a cruise ship employee from California, was last seen swimming.

"There are very strong currents there," Arbles said. "Ninety percent of the people who drown at Boiling Pots end up in the second pond."