Diving accident kills local

A Mount Pleasant man died Friday off Charleston's coast while spear-fishing.

An autopsy of Tim Edwards, 45, showed he was likely killed by an air embolism, generally caused by rising from to the surface. The ailment can then cause blood clots or rob the brain and other vital organs of air-rich blood.

Ewards had been with eight other people on a 36-foot boat and were some 30 miles off the coast. The Post and Courier reports:
A Coast Guard helicopter based in Charleston raced to the scene and airlifted Edwards to the Medical University of South Carolina.

He was pronounced dead later Friday morning, [Charleston County Deputy Coroner Bobbi Jo] O'Neal said.

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