Free Republic

The search, off the coast near 1308 Palos Verdes Drive West, began about 8:20 p.m. Friday, when the owner of a boat the diver was using called the county fire department to report it, according to L.A. County Lifeguard Capt. Kenichi Haskett. “The boat was docked in King Harbor in Redondo Beach and he called our Hermosa Beach lifeguard station to report it being overdue,” Haskett said. “He told us he had given it to a man on Thursday, who wanted to do some diving off shore,” he said Kenichi said the county lifeguards then notified the U.S. Coast Guard...

Spanish rescuers have ended their underwater search for Natalia Molchanova, a world-renowned Russian free diver who disappeared during a recreational swim this weekend, but will continue looking for her on the water's surface. Galina Zveryaeva of AIDA, the international diving federation, said that effort "will continue for several days." Molchanova, a 23-time world champion holding 41 different records under her belt, was regarded by many as one of the greatest ever in the sport of free-diving. "She was a free-diving superstar,” Kimmo Lahtinen, president of AIDA, told The New York Times. Molchanova, of Moscow, was capable of holding her breath...