Salem Crew Helps Search for Missing Diver

The Salem dive team took part in a search for a missing diver Tuesday off the coast of Marblehead.

The diver, whose body was found about four hours after he was reported missing,  was identified as a 58-year-old man from Westfield who was scallop diving, according to Carrie Kimball-Monahan, spokeswoman for Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett.

She said the cause of death was an “apparent drowning” while the man was SCUBA diving about two miles off of Marblehead Harbor.

Emergency responders were first called at about 10:15 a.m. by the driver of the boat the man was diving from. The man did not surface after a dive and the boat driver called in a “diver down” to the Marblehead Harbormaster, Kimball-Monahan said.

The diver has been scallop diving with two other men near Satan’s Rock in Salem Sound.

The Marblehead Harbormaster and police responded at first, later assisted by the Beverly team, plus others from Salem, Environmental Police, State Police and the U.S. Coast Guard.

The State Police dive team recovered the man’s body at 2:30 pm.

State Police detectives assigned to the Essex District Attorney’s Office were called to the scene and will investigate, Kimball-Monahan said.

“The circumstances of the diver’s death remain under investigation,” Kimball-Monahan said in a statement. “Foul play is not suspected.”