The Region - News from April 7, 1987

A 23-year-old scuba diver suffering from the bends was airlifted to a high-pressure chamber on Santa Catalina Island after being rescued off Divers Cove in Laguna Beach, authorities said. Jim Cleary of Orange was in distress when firemen rescued him in the surf at the cove, just north of Main Beach, Laguna Beach Police Sgt. Don Barney said. Cleary was first taken to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, then flown by helicopter to the island. The bends is a painful condition caused by the formation of nitrogen bubbles in the bloodstream and body tissues.