Countywide : Scuba Gear to Be Probed in Drowning
Diving gear used by a USC professor who drowned off the coast of Ventura County on Wednesday will be examined by scuba experts later this week, a medical examiner said Thursday.
Investigators hope the examination will help explain why Willard Van Tuyl Rusch, 58, an experienced diver, drowned while diving off the southern coast of San Miguel Island, Deputy Coroner Jim Wingate said.
Employees at Aqua Ventures, a Camarillo dive shop, will check Rusch’s gear for any sign that equipment failure led to the incident, Wingate said.
Wingate said results of the investigation should be known within two weeks.
Rusch’s death was the first this year in the Channel Islands area that was related to scuba diving. One scuba-related death was reported in each of the past two years, Wingate said.
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