Mount Pleasant scuba diver dies 30 miles off coast

An avid scuba diver from Mount Pleasant died Friday while spearfishing off Charleston, officials said Saturday.

An autopsy performed Saturday found that Tim Edwards, 45, likely died of an air or gas embolism, a condition that can happen when divers rise too quickly, O'Neal said. Edwards was an electrician.

Edwards and eight others on the 36-foot Rockville-based Muntu Too were about 30 miles off the coast Friday, the Coast Guard reported.

Edwards was spearfishing with a friend when they got separated, Coast Guard Petty Officer Mark Henricksen said. "The next time they saw him was on the surface."

A Coast Guard helicopter based in Charleston raced to the scene and airlifted Edwards to the Medical University of South Carolina.

He was pronounced dead later Friday morning, Charleston County Coroner Bobbi Jo O'Neal said.

Investigators weren't sure how Edwards ran into trouble and were hoping a diving computer might offer some clues, Henricksen said.

The boat was a recreational dive boat registered to Anthony Black, said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Eric King. King said diving fatalities are rare off the South Carolina coast compared to other areas of the Southeast.