Surfer Mikala Jones dies after suffering ‘severed artery’

Hawaiian surfing star Mikala Jones bled to death after severing an artery in his groin while riding a wave in Indonesia this weekend.

Jones, a 44-year-old married father of three, was involved in a freak surfing accident in the Mentawai Islands Sunday.

Jones had been staying at the Awera Resort with his family, when around 9:15 a.m. he likely impaled his left groin on his surfboard fin, suffering a 4-inch-long gash, according to the surfing website Surfline, citing official reports.

While the exact circumstances of Jones’ death remained unclear, those close to Jones wrote on social media that he died after slashing his femoral artery, leading to a massive blood loss.

“Details are a little sketchy but it sounds like he was hit by his surfboard, cut a main artery and that’s all I know,” Brian Bielmann, a photographer and friend of Jones, wrote on Facebook.

Jones was best known in Hawaii for tube-surfing, which entails riding inside the barrel of a breaking wave.

The Hawaii native had been documenting his adventures in stunning GoPro videos, prompting Surfline to hail him as “one of the 21st century’s most photogenic surfers.”

Jones’ daughter Isabella Jones confirmed her father’s tragic death on Instagram.

“I’m not sure how to put this in words, but my dad got into a bad surfing accident and didn’t make it,” she wrote in a post Sunday. “Im [sic] happy he was doing what he loved the most.

The distraught daughter also shared touching photos of herself as a child surfing with her dad, writing that she was “in disbelief” and that Jones’ untimely death “doesn’t feel real.”  

“I love you so much dad and i wish i could give you one last hug,” she added. “I wish i could tell you again how much i love you and thank you for being the best dad.”

The news of Jones’ fatal surfing accident was met with an outpouring of tributes from members of the worldwide surfing community.

Three-time surfing World Champion Mick Fanning shared a photo of himself and Jones together on Instagram, writing that he felt “shattered.”

“Mikala you were one of a kind. Funny, mellow, an explorer, a pioneer but most of all loving husband and father,” Fanning wrote. “Going to miss your sense of humor and classic one liners. Love how you always kept it real but were a true ambassador of aloha.”

T&C Surf designs, a surfboard-making company in Hawaii, also paid tribute to Jones on Facebook, reminiscing about his “quiet demeanor and easy smile.”

“His passion for deep barrels and his unquenchable wanderlust led him to explore points beyond to get even deeper,” the post read. “Mikala shared the experience with his amazing POV images letting many of us share the feeling even though we lacked his mastery of tube riding.”