Teen Dies in Snorkeling Accident

A 16-year-old San Juan Capistrano youth apparently drowned Sunday while snorkeling and spearfishing with a friend near Seal Rock offshore of Crescent Bay, lifeguards said.

The boy, Christopher William Cvengros, was found floating face down at 12:30 p.m., about a half-hour after his companion, who is also 16, reported him missing, said Kevin Snow, a Laguna Beach city lifeguard.

Cvengros was an experienced diver and it was unclear what led to his death, Snow said. He was wearing a full wetsuit, a weight belt, mask, snorkel and fins when he died.

“Who knows what happened?” Snow said, noting that the water was calm, the surf relatively flat and the water temperature about 56 degrees. “We are waiting for the coroner’s report for help with that. He was a healthy young male and, from what we gather, a pretty experienced diver.”

The two boys were on a 19-foot boat and diving about 250 yards offshore when the friend noticed the spear gun belonging to Cvengros lying in about 20 feet of water, Snow said. He then yelled for help and, with the aid of a nearby scuba diver, radioed the Harbor Patrol in Newport Beach from their boat, Snow said.

After the Harbor Patrol and lifeguards from Newport Beach and Laguna Beach joined the search, the body was found by an Orange County Sheriff’s Department helicopter about three-quarters of a mile south of Seal Rock, toward Shaw’s Cove, Snow said.

Cvengros was taken to shore and then to South Coast Medical Center in Laguna Beach, Snow said. An autopsy to determine the cause of death will be performed today, said a spokesman for the Orange County coroner’s office.

The accident was the second diving fatality in recent weeks in the waters off Laguna Beach. In November, a scuba diver drowned while diving with friends near Cleo Street Beach.