SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - An autopsy is pending on a local scuba diver who died off Mission Beach.
Friends say 54-year-old Jim Kinane, an experienced diver, was on a 44-foot yacht with four other divers near the Yukon, a sunken Canadian destroyer Saturday afternoon.
San Diego lifeguards say Kinane said he wasn't feeling well and stayed behind on the boat, but when the others resurfaced, they saw Kinane get into the water where he then started struggling, and became unconscious.
Lifeguards were called in, but despite their best efforts, Kinane was pronounced dead.
At least one friend believes Kinane may have suffered a heart attack.
THIS IS AN UPDATE TO THE PREVIOUS STORY BELOW.
SAN DIEGO (CNS) - An autopsy was pending Sunday on a 54-year-old scuba diver who died off Mission Beach.
The victim on a 44-foot motor boat with four other men over the sunken Canadian destroyer Yukon to dive on the wreck when the mishap occurred, authorities said.
The stricken diver, whose name was withheld, stayed behind when the others went under, San Diego lifeguard Lt. Nick Lerma said. When the other divers surfaced, the man got into the water about 12:45 p.m., but started struggling and collapsed, Lerma said.
The divers had drifted about 300 feet from the vessel because of a current and were unable to immediately reach the stricken man, he said.
THIS IS AN UPDATE TO THE PREVIOUS STORY BELOW.
SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - A local diver is dead Saturday after being pulled out of the waters off Mission Beach.
It happened just before 1 p.m. San Diego lifeguards got a distress call from the Yukon diving site about a mile and a half offshore.
Lifeguards performed CPR on the unconscious diver on their rescue boat as they rushed him back to shore.
Despite their best efforts, the man was pronounced dead on the docks of Mission Bay.
"At this point, we don't know if his issues occurred on the surface or underwater. And so we don't even know if it's diving related at the moment," Lt. Nick Lerma of the San Diego Lifeguard Department said.
So far, the diver's identity has not been released.