A professional surfer riding the Pipeline surf break off the north shore of Oahu in Hawaii had to be put into a coma after hitting his head on a reef.

The surfer, Makai McNamara, 29, was on the waves Sunday when he wiped out, resulting in the collision that knocked him unconscious. 

“But it was just a bad wave, kind of a freak accident, and he went headfirst into the reef,” fellow pro surfer and Mr. McNamara’s best friend, Eli Olson, told Honolulu’s KITV.

Witnesses told online surfing magazine Stab that Mr. McNamara suffered an awkward fall inside the tube created by the wave.

Mr. McNamara was unconscious underwater for “close to two minutes,” Mr. Olson said, after which he arrived to help keep his friend’s head above water. Lifeguards then came and did more chest compressions, after which Mr. McNamara started coughing up water and regaining consciousness.

“It was tense moments as the group battled the rip, undertow and crashing waves to get him ashore,” witness Mike Latronic told Stab.

Mr. McNamara was taken for medical treatment and put into a three-day coma to help him heal.

“Was so scary not seeing him come up after falling on that wave. I’m here wishing I did more & got to him faster but I know he was in good hands & just tried to be there how I could for him in that moment. I can’t recall everyone who was there because my mind was set on my brother but Thank you so much to whoever grabbed him first,” the surfer’s brother and fellow pro surfer Landon McNamara wrote on Instagram.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.