PARADISE -- A man drowned yesterday afternoon while scuba diving north of Point Iriquious.
The man was diving the wreck of the S.S. Samuel Mather with three other men around 3 pm yesterday. After the 180 foot dive, one of the divers noticed that the fourth diver was unable to come up and might have passed out. His breathing device fell out of his mouth and started sinking to the bottom.
The third diver tried to grab the man who was passed out, but didn't have enough air. He was forced to watch him sink to the bottom.
There were multiple surface searches between helicopters and boats that took place until sunset yesterday. They have now suspended the surface search , as they found out that the diver weighed 200 pounds and had an additional 100 pounds on his belt.
Michigan State Police divers are looking for his body underwater now.
The man was in his fifties.
