A diver is dead, after San Diego Lifeguard divers found him floating unconscious at the bottom of the ocean on Saturday.
The 48-year-old man boarded a charter boat with thirteen other passengers for a diving expedition off Mission Beach. The divers were exploring the HMS Yukon as the first stop on their tour.
The man was certified as an advanced diver and was diving alone, officials said.
The other divers in the group say they saw the man during the dive; it wasn't until they got onto the boat that they realized he was missing.
"A couple of the other divers that were there at the time, spotted him swimming around in circles like he had found something interesting in the sand," said Waterhouse Charters' Ryan Wilbarger.
Passengers on the boat realized the man was missing when the boat moved on to another dive site.
"My dad and I, we were coming back on the boat, started looking around for him and all of a sudden we were like 'hey, we were wondering where the guy was', so then we did a headcount and found out he was missing," said diver David Whiteside.
Local
The boat crew called the Coast Guard and San Diego Lifeguards, who found the man unconscious and tried to revive him.
"Lifeguard dive team members found him about 25 - 30 yards on the west side of the vessel midship" said San Diego Lifeguard Lt. Nick Lerma. "He wasn't inside the vessel when he was located."
Both the Coast Guard and Medical Examiner are investigating whether he had a problem with his equipment or if he had some type of medical issue.
Police have not released the man's name and his fellow divers only had brief conversations with the man before the dive.
"He was a retired veteran and going to school on the GI Bill and that's pretty much all we talked about," Whiteside said.
This is the third death of a diver at the Yukon since it was sunk off Mission Beach in 2000. The others, a man and a woman, were also known to be experienced divers.
