PALOS VERDES, California — Baywatch patrol out of Redondo Beach found the body of a man who disappeared while diving at Malaga Cove.

The Los Angeles County Coroner’s office have not yet released the diving accident victim’s name but told CDNN the 52-year-old male diver was found at a depth of about four and a half meters (15 feet).

Coast Guard patrol vessels and rescue helicopters searched an area spanning more than 72 square miles of ocean

Los Angeles County Fire Department Baywatch in Redondo Beach and the Redondo Beach Harbor Patrol also assisted in the missing diver search.

Sgt. Steve Barber of the Rancho Palos Verdes Police Department said darkness forced searchers to stand down on Saturday night but the search resumed at about 6:00 am on Sunday morning and Baywatch searchers found the missing diver at about 8:00 am.

The fatal diving accident is under investigation and the cause of death has not yet been determined.

This is a sad story and probably pretty preventable.

A 65 year old man on his 14th SCUBA dive decides to go it alone….

Man drowns scuba diving off Anacapa Island

A Santa Barbara man drowned Friday while scuba diving off Anacapa Island, authorities said.

John G. Koenig, 65, was diving around 1 p.m. on the north side near Cathedral Cove when other divers found one of his fins. A frantic search followed, and Koenig was found on the ocean floor, about 27 feet deep, said Craig Stevens, senior deputy Ventura County medical examiner.

“The regulator was out of his mouth and he was lying there unresponsive,” Stevens said.

Divers removed his weight belt and brought Koenig back to a recreational dive boat where efforts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful, Stevens said. CPR was performed for nearly 30 minutes, he said.

An autopsy Saturday morning showed Koenig drowned, Stevens said. The autopsy showed evidence of cardiac disease, but no clear sign he suffered a heart attack. There was no other trauma found on his body, Stevens said.

Koenig was by himself but among a group diving off the recreational dive boat Spectre out of Ventura Harbor, Stevens said.

Koenig, described as about 6 feet tall and 180 pounds, started scuba diving in January, Stevens said. It was his 14th dive.

The original article can be found here.