The 59-year-old man who drowned while abalone diving Monday along the Mendocino County coast was identified Tuesday as Hung Truong Ha of San Jose.
Ha was abalone diving with two others in rough, windy conditions near the Point Arena lighthouse. It was not clear how or why Ha ran into trouble.
One of the members of the diving group ran a quarter-mile north to the lighthouse to call for help just before 9 a.m. Monday. A sheriff's helicopter responded and was able to pull the other two divers from the ocean. One survived, but Ha was dead at the scene.
The Vietnamese man is the sixth person to die along the Mendocino County coast since April 7. Four of the deceased were hunting abalone when they died.
-- Glenda Anderson
