El Dorado County – The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department last week announced the recovery of an as-yet unidentified diver from 265 feet of water in late July at Lake Tahoe.

El Dorado Sheriff’s Office public information Officer Bryan Golmitz released details of the incident last week, saying that on July 24, the El Dorado Sheriff's Office “received information from a deep diver that while diving in Lake Tahoe near Rubicon Point he located a deceased diver in a rock crevice.

“The deep diver reported that the deceased diver was approximately 250-270 feet below the lake surface. Based on the reported depth it was determined that the Sheriff’s Office would use a Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) for the search and possibly the recovery,” Golmitz said. “The Sheriff's Office, through a grant, had purchased the Remote Operated Vehicle two years ago for circumstances like these.

“On the morning of July 27, the Sheriff’s dive and marine teams set out to locate the deceased diver. Once in location, the Lake Tahoe patrol boat was anchored and then used as the platform to launch the ROV,” Golmitz said. “Several hours passed as the operator maneuvered the ROV back and forth along Rubicon point at 260 feet below the surface. At about 3 p.m. the deceased diver was located in the rock crevice.”

The search then became a recovery operation. Golmitz said “using the ROV mechanical claw the operator was able to grab onto the dive equipment and deputies began slowly pulling the ROV umbilical up.”

After an hour, the ROV and its operators were able to retrieve the diver’s body from 265 feet of water, and the body “had been pulled to the side of the Sheriff’s boat. The Sheriff’s divers then entered the water to complete the recovery.”

“The deceased diver was brought back to the shore and transferred to the custody of the Coroner,” who “will attempt to determine the identification of the subject and the cause and manner of death.”

The El Dorado Sheriff's Office received help from two South Lake Tahoe Police Department marine patrol boats in the search. Golmitz said “they were instrumental in the search by keeping boating traffic out of the area so that the water remained as calm as possible, which made the ROV operators job easier.” He said the U.S. Coast Guard also assisted in maintaining the ROV platform location.

Regional media reported authorities are looking into a 1994 diving incident, when a 44-year-old Reno man disappeared during a 130-foot dive, after falling unconscious during ascent. Recovered scuba gear reportedly dated to that era.

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