Man ID’d in fatal diving accident

Authorities identified a 52-year-old Huntington Beach man today who died in a diving accident the past weekend.

Mikhail Tkachev was “free diving” without air tanks Saturday near Malaga Cove in Palos Verdes when he died, Palos Verdes Capt. Mark Velez said.

Authorities were called about 8 p.m. Saturday after the diver did not meet a friend as planned. His car was found in a parking lot with no dive gear in it, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Rescue workers searched for him until 10 p.m. Saturday and then resumed at dawn Sunday. The body was found about 10 a.m. Sunday 50 feet off shore, Velez said.

Rescue workers from the Coast Guard, Los Angeles County Fire Department and the Redondo Beach Harbor Patrol searched more than 72 square miles of ocean.

— Paul Anderson