A diver pulled from the waters off Redondo Beach was pronounced dead Friday afternoon following a rescue operation by county lifeguards, a fire official said.
The man was one of three people who had been reported missing by a fellow diver after the group dove south of the Redondo Beach pier, said county fire Inspector Frederic Stowers.
As a six-person rescue team responded to the incident just before 1 p.m., two individuals surfaced in the water, Stowers said. The third diver had to be rescued from the sea and was initially reported to be in critical condition.
"They brought the body up from about 15 to 18 feet below," Stowers said.
The man - whom he could not identify - was transported to a local hospital and later pronounced dead, Stowers said.
Another diver suffered minor injuries due to exhaustion but did not go to the hospital, Stowers said.
The group had been diving not far from the Ruby Street lifeguard tower when rescue workers got a call at 12:52 p.m., he said.
"Apparently a diver who surfaced reported the missing divers. They may have lost their orientation as to where they were in the water," Stowers said.
Stowers described the response as "pretty rapid," given that "by 1:15 p.m., everybody had been accounted for."
Joggers and beachgoers in the area stood watching Friday as lifeguards searched the waters with Redondo Beach's Harbor Patrol.
Resident Carl Bjorck said he heard cries for help while working from his home office on The Esplanade.
"I've seen and heard a lot of things," said Bjorck, who has views of the beach and the city pier. "It was this frantic call for help. It just got worse and worse and worse."
Bjorck, who photographed the scene, described how he and others ran to help a man who was "crawling up on the beach coughing on all fours."
Bjorck recounted how the man said his buddy was in the water when he went into shock. A lifeguard equipped with a snorkel mask found the diver in about 15 feet of water near the location of a former jetty, said Bjorck, who surfs in the area.
"The one thing that I didn't see ... I didn't see a buoy there. There was no diving marker."
After the man was located, Bjorck said the rest of the lifeguards jumped in and helped bring him to shore, where they performed resuscitation efforts.
kristin.agostoni@dailybreeze.com
