A 38-year-old Arizona man died Tuesday after being pulled from the water during a large-scale search and rescue operation at Sand Dollar Beach along the Big Sur coastline.
The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office identified the man as Trevor Valentine of Casa Grande, Arizona.
Deputies responded to the beach, located along Highway 1 in southern Monterey County, shortly after 1pm following a report of a missing scuba diver.
When emergency personnel arrived, they learned that the missing man was a swimmer, not a scuba diver as initially reported.
A California State Parks lifeguard entered the water near the location where Valentine was last seen, while other rescue personnel searched the surrounding shoreline.
Rescuers found Valentine unresponsive near the rocky coastline at the southern end of Sand Dollar Beach and began lifesaving efforts.
A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter hoisted him from the rocky shoreline and transferred him to ambulance personnel for additional medical care.
Despite those efforts, Valentine died.
The rescue operation involved personnel from the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, Big Sur Fire, Cambria Ambulance, California State Parks Lifeguards, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Coast Guard.
The Sheriff’s Office did not release information about what caused Valentine to become distressed in the water or his official cause of death.
No further information was available Wednesday.
Sand Dollar Beach is just northwest of Watsonville, in the La Selva Beach area.
