HONOLULU -- Honolulu paramedics took a scuba diver for treatment of the bends on Tuesday morning, emergency officials said.

The man, who appeared to be in his 50s, was diving off Honolulu Harbor just before 10 a.m. He began suffering decompression sickness symptoms when surfaced from about 100 feet below sea level, officials said.

Paramedics met with the boat carrying the diver at a Sand Island boat ramp. They treated the patient and took him in serious condition to a hospital for treatment in a hyperbaric chamber.

The bends, or decompression sickness, can happen when gas bubbles form in the blood as a diver rises to the surface. The symptoms of the bends includes: joint pain, pain in other parts of the body, weakness, numbness, burning chest pain, coughing and shortness of breath.