IROQUOIS POINT BEACH — A 10-year-old 'Ewa Beach girl who drowned Sunday — despite her brother's attempt to save her — was a "very, very sweet" girl who always smiled and loved collecting Bratz dolls and making teddy bears at the Build-A-Bear Workshop, a family friend said.

Mollie Dauner died of asphyxia due to drowning shortly after 4:20 p.m. Sunday, according to the office of the City Medical Examiner.

Dauner, a student at Iroquois Point Elementary School, was in the surf at Iroquois Point Beach with her 15-year-old brother, Jake, when a wave knocked her off her bodyboard, police said.

There are no lifeguards at Iroquois Point Beach, so Jake swam to his sister's side and tried to pull her to shore. As he attempted to bring her ashore, Mollie Dauner lost consciousness, police said.

She was driven by ambulance to Hawai'i Medical Center-West after being attended to at the beach near Edgewater Drive.

Mollie was "really quiet, but very, very sweet," said a longtime Dauner friend who was at the beach Sunday with Mollie's parents. "She (Mollie) would do anything for you and she would do anything to try and please you," said the friend, who asked not to be identified because the family had not given her permission.

The friend said she got a call yesterday from Mollie's mother, Jennifer L. Dauner, a 32-year-old Texas native, and immediately went to meet her at Iroquois Point Beach.

Jennifer Dauner was "devastated," the friend said.

The Dauner family lives less than a half-mile from the beach on Gannet Avenue. Mollie Dauner's father is in the U.S. Army and the family moved here two years ago from Texas.

As of yesterday, 32 people had drowned in Hawai'i this year, according to the state Health Department.

Statewide statistics for 2006 are not yet available, but there were 77 drowning deaths statewide in 2005, 71 in 2004, 58 in 2003, and 61 in 2002.

Of the 323 people who drowned in the ocean from 2001 to 2006, only nine, or 2.8 percent, were under 18 years old, and only 4, or 0.6 percent, were under the age of 12.

There were a total of 382 drownings from 2001-2006, including incidents in the ocean, pools and other areas, for an average of 64 deaths each year.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.