HONOLULU -- A Big Island community is reeling after a freak accident killed a Good Samaritan who was trying to help two kayakers in distress.

It happened at about 8:30 a.m. Sunday, near Honokohau Harbor in Kailua Kona. On Monday, witnesses described what happened.

The Good Samaritan, whose name has not been released, was trying to help the kayakers when the weather suddenly changed.

The water was choppy and the sky was dark as fire rescue crews towed the Good Samaritan's charred boat into the harbor.

You could still see smoke coming from its bow. Just minutes earlier conditions were perfect for boating along the Kona Coast.

Fire officials said a man and woman on the 18-foot boat spotted the two kayakers in distress and tried to help.

"A big squall had come up out of nowhere. It was dark and gray and blowing 30 miles an hour and raining and very rough water," said witness Jeff Leicher.

Witnesses said the boat's engine died and the vessel ran aground before its bow burst into flames.

"The boat was burning. Apparently, it hit the rocks and caught on fire," Leicher said.

Leicher said the kayakers sought help and told him the man was initially lying unconscious in a pool of blood on the boat.

"By the time we got there, unfortunately, the man was no longer on the boat. He was in the water," Leicher said.

Fire rescue crews pulled the man out of the water and extinguished the fire. The man was later pronounced dead at the Kona Community Hospital. The woman aboard the boat and the kayakers escaped serious injury.

"I think it was just a freak accident. I think the chances of something like that happening are very small," Leicher said. "A squall like what we had yesterday morning is very unusual. I had no idea it was coming."

Leicher won't soon forget Mother Nature's sudden turn or the Good Samaritan who died trying to help complete strangers.

"You hate to see a Good Samaritan whose trying to help somebody else gets into trouble himself. And you know, I wish the best for his family and friends," Leicher said.

Kona Community Hospital said the man's family has not yet identified the body and therefore it has not released his name.