Diver Reported Missing Found Near Santa Monica Pier

Search and rescue crews found a diver Tuesday evening who was reported missing off the coast of Santa Monica.

The man was being evaluated by an EMT and is conscious, according to U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Adam Eggers.

He was pulled from the water about 5:10 p.m. by lifeguards who spotted him as he attempted to swim ashore about 200 yards from the Santa Monica Pier, Eggers said.

The search began about an hour earlier, when lifeguards contacted the coast guard on a report of a 32-year-old man who went missing while diving off the pier.

"We have a helicopter and a small boat out there," Eggers said while the search was underway. "We don't know if [the man] was scuba diving or free diving or what."

Santa Monica Police Department's harbor patrol and Santa Monica firefighters helped the Coast Guard and Baywatch Redondo in the search, according to police Sgt. Richard Lewis.

A coast guard 45-foot response boat from station Los Angeles-Long Beach and a helicopter from coast guard air station Los Angeles were launched to assist in the search. 

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