A 74-year-old Gold River man collecting crabs drowns when his waders fill with water

A 74-year-old man digging for sand crabs alone Saturday on a beach at Point Reyes National Seashore in California had his back to the water when a wave may have knocked him down, a Marin County coroner’s report says.

The bib-style waders worn by Ki Chun Kim of Gold River, near Sacramento, filled with water, preventing him from getting back to dry land, the report says. Friends with whom he had been fishing found Kim floating face-down in the surf a short time later.

Firefighters and a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter performing training nearby responded to South Beach after Kim’s friends called 911 at 10:54 a.m., the coroner’s office reported.

A Coast Guard rescue swimmer from the helicopter retrieved Kim from the ocean and brought him to the beach, where rescuers began CPR. The helicopter then airlifted him to an ambulance in the parking lot, the coroner’s report says.

Kim was pronounced dead at the scene just after noon, the office reported. An investigation into his death continues.

This story was originally published May 8, 2019 at 9:10 AM with the headline "A 74-year-old Gold River man collecting crabs drowns when his waders fill with water."